Wisconsin Citizen’s Handbook 

BY 


MAT WOOD-SIMONS 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

Wisconsin League of Women Voters 

PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS 









Wisconsin Citizen’s Handbook 

BY 

MAT WOOD-SIMONS 

M 





Piankinton Arcade 

MILWAUKEE, « WIS. 


PUBLISHED BY THE 

Wisconsin League of Women Voters 


PRICE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS 



Copyright, 1920 
By May Wood-Simons 


©r;i.A571976 


jUL 26 1920 



CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter I.—Municipal Government. 5 

Growth and Structure of Cities—Relation of City 
and State—Finances and Budget Making. 

"Chapter II.—Milwaukee City Government. 9 

Legislative, Executive, Administrative Depart¬ 
ments. 

Chapter III.—Municipal Problems. 15 

City Streets—Water Supply—Disposal of Waste— 
Police Protection—Forms of Municipal Govern¬ 
ment—Public Utilities. 

Chapter IV.—Town and County Government. 27 

Chapter V.—State Government of Wisconsin. 52 

Legislative, Executive, Administrative and Judi¬ 
cial Departments—Taxation—School System— 
Finances — Political Parties — Suffrage — Elec¬ 
tion — Amendments — Summary of Wisconsin 
Laws Bearing on Women and Children. 

Chapter VI.—Federal Government. 57 

Congress—Executive—Civil Service—Cabinet — 
Federal Judiciary. . 

Chapter VII.—Citizenship . 72 

Naturalization—Process of Amending Constitu¬ 
tion. 

Chapter VIII.—Proposed Topics for Citizenship Study 
Groups. 76 











FOREWORD. 


The Wisconsin Citizen’s Handbook is in no sense an attempt 
in the field of civics. It is merely a reference book with the em¬ 
phasis laid on the state of Wisconsin and local problems. 

Especial attention has been given to the administrative de¬ 
partments throughout in accord with the recommendations of 
the Committee of Seven, that more attention should be given to 
administrative methods and law enforcement and less propor¬ 
tionately to governmental structure and legislation. 

Much help has been derived from the various texts of Prof. 
William Bennett Munro of Harvard University. 

Thanks are due to Mr. Clifton Williams, City Attorney of 
Milwaukee, who kindly read the manuscript. 



CHAPTER I. 


MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT 

Growth and Structure of Cities 

A city may be defined as a considerable population, located 
upon a definite area, and having a government fitted to, handle 
local problems. Some of the most important causes for the 
growth of cities are: The building up of the factory system with 
production on a large scale, and the consequent need for a con¬ 
siderable number of workers; the invention of farm machinery 
which has thrown large numbers of men out of agricultural em¬ 
ployment and the rapid development of transportation. Social 
and educational advantages, natural healthfulness, and political 
forces are further attractions drawing people to cities. In 1789 
but 4% of the population of this country was found in cities; 
in 1910 this had grown to over 42%. 

There are certain structural characteristics that should be 
studied in connection with cities. For instance, the number of 
women in cities is considerably larger than that of men, owing 
to the fact that women can be more largely employed in the fac¬ 
tory industries. Agriculture and mining require men in the rural 
districts. The city has a larger percentage of persons in youth 
and middle age. There is also a larger percentage of foreign 
born in cities than in the country. While but 15% of the whole 
nation is foreign born, some cities have as high as 50%. 

The birth rate, marriage rate and death rate are all higher 
in cities than in the rural districts. There is less illiteracy in 
cities than in rural communities. Contrary to general opinion, 
crime is not, as a whole, greater in cities than it is in the coun¬ 
try. Crimes against property, only, have a higher percentage in 
the cities than in rural districts. The earning capacity of the city 
population is higher than in the country, owing to the fact that 
a larger percentage of the population is of a productive age. 
More homes are owned by country inhabitants than by city 
dwellers. 


5 


Relation of City and State 

A city is a municipal corporation, created by the state. It 
derives all its powers from state law and is subordinate in all its 
activities to state authority. The instrument which governs 
cities, called the charter, grants the municipal corporation cer¬ 
tain powers; first, general legislative powers over the subordi¬ 
nate corporate body; second, police power, the power to tax and 
borrow, to appropriate and spend money, to enter into contracts 
and to acquire, manage and dispose of property. 

There are at present twelve states in the United States that 
provide for home rule for cities. Home rule means practical 
autonomy for cities. There are certain arguments offered by the 
opponents of home rule. They claim there are few purely mu¬ 
nicipal functions which have no general interest for the state at 
large. As an example of this. New York is instanced. For its 
water supply it must go out a long distance into the state. Pro¬ 
fessor Goodnow characterizes the tendency toward autonomy of 
cities as a return to some of the characteristics of the middle ages. 

On the other hand, those who favor home rule point out that 
the state legislature is unfitted to exercise control over many 
questions which affect urban dwellers, because it has not the 
time to look into details, its members have not the requisite 
knowledge, and have not the proper responsibility. These par¬ 
tisans of home rule also contend that purely city problems have 
no considerable interest for the people of the state at large. 

Even in Home Rule Charter states the courts have decided 
that municipal charter provisions cannot supersede general state 
laws relating to police administration, elections, the machinery 
and administration of justice and the school system, and any 
other matter of more than purely local interest. 

The Wisconsin constitution has given the state legislature 
the power to incorporate cities. Under this power the legisla¬ 
ture has passed a general law for the incorporating of cities that 
provides for four classes. 

Cities of the first class 150,000 population and over. 

Cities of the second class between 150,00 and 40,000. 

Cities of the third class between 40,000 and 10,000. 

Cities of the fourth class less than 10,000. 


6 


Milwaukee, and a few others, have special charters, granted 
before the amendment to the constitution in 1889. Milwaukee 
is not under the general city law. 

Cities are divided into wards for the election of aldermen. 
The population of the wards is approximately the same and the 
territory is contiguous. Each ward is divided into precincts. 

Finances and Budget Making 

The work of the city government is to protect life, property 
and morals, to provide educational and recreational facilities for 
the inhabitants, and to discharge certain duties delegated to it by 
the state, such as handling elections. To carry out these func¬ 
tions entails a heavy expense. This demands municipal financial 
machinery. 

There are three principle subjects to be discussed under the 
head of city finances. The first is revenue. This is largely raised 
by local assessment and taxes, 53% of the revenue of American 
cities being raised by taxes on real estate and personal property; 
by special assessment; by certain financial arrangements with 
the public service corporations that bring considerable amounts 
into the treasury of some cities; and by the granting of licenses. 

The second subject of importance in connection with the city 
finances is that of budget making. The history of budget making 
is very different in American cities. At one time the budgets 
were prepared by a committee of the city council. Other cities 
have turned this important piece of work over to the mayor. At 
present most cities place this work in the hands of a Board of 
Estimates. 

A typical way of handling this may be outlined. The heads 
of the various city departments make an estimate of the expenses 
of their department for the coming year. These estimates are 
placed in the hands of the city comptroller, who in turn gives 
them over to a board of estimates. 

This Board of Estimates is ordinarily composed of the Mayor, 
President of the Common Council, City Comptroller, Treasurer, 
City Attorney, Commissioner of Public Works, and the Finance 
Committee of the City Council. 

Some of the things that seem most essential in budget mak¬ 
ing are that it should be made out in minute detail with uniform 

7 


classification; that it should, in addition to the above board, be 
examined by an expert on city finances, that an opportunity for 
public hearing should be given, enabling the people of the com¬ 
munity to participate in determining the city expenditures; and 
finally that all appropriations should be made definite, never in 
lump sums. A contingent fund is generally carried. 

The third problem in city finances is the question of city debt. 
Many states of the Union have provided in their constitutions 
that the indebtedness of the city shall not exceed 5% of the as¬ 
sessed valuation of property. Wisconsin provides that no city 
may indebt itself beyond a period of twenty years, the exception 
being cities of over 150,000 population that desire to make perma¬ 
nent improvements. For such cases the indebtedness may con¬ 
tinue for fifty years. 


8 


CHAPTER II. 


MILWAUKEE CITY GOVERNMENT 

Legislative Department of City 

The Council is the law making body of the city. By recent 
charter amendment, it is made up of twenty-five aldermen elected 
from twenty-five wards. Six aldermen at large are still in office 
and will hold until 1922. In all Wisconsin cities, except Milwau¬ 
kee, the mayor is the presiding officer. The Milwaukee Council 
elects a president from among its members. It also elects a clerk 
who is not a member of the Council. 

The presiding officer appoints certain standing committees 
to which ordinances are referred. Ordinances are a small part 
of committee work. Most city business is done by resolution and 
other means. These committees are: Finance and Printing, 
/ Judiciary, Water Works and Sewerage, Public Welfare, Rail- 
' roads and Bridges, Public Buildings and Grounds, Licenses, 
Legislation and Rules, Streets and Alleys, Revision and En¬ 
grossed Ordinances. 

The Council has the power to levy taxes, make appropriations, 
borrow money, grant franchises, make ordinances for the gov¬ 
ernment of the city, such as regulating height of buildings, of 
weights and measures, garbage collection and contagious dis¬ 
eases, and affirms certain appointments made by the mayor. 

An ordinance may be introduced by any member of the coun¬ 
cil. It is then referred to one of the committees by the presid¬ 
ing officer. The council acts on the recommendation of the com¬ 
mittee and refers the ordinance to the mayor for his signature 
or veto. If it is vetoed, it becomes a law if repassed by a two- 
thirds vote of the council. 

Executive Department 

There are four elected executive officers in the city. 

The Mayor, as the chief executive, must see that the state 
laws and city ordinances are carried out. He makes recom- 


9 


mendations to the council, may veto ordinances, is head of the 
administrative departments, and makes certain appointments, 
such as the heads of the administrative departments, with the 
approval of the council. 

The Comptroller is the bookkeeper for the city. He audits 
all claims against the city before they are paid, countersigns all 
contracts and resolutions appropriating money and receives de¬ 
partmental estimates for the use of the Board of Estimates. 

The City Attorney drafts ordinances, acts for the city in all 
cases in which the city is a party, and gives legal advice to all 
city officials. 

The City Treasurer receives the taxes, takes care of the city 
money and pays it out on order of the council. 

Administrative Departments of City Government 

The Administrative Departments of City Governments vary 
greatly. For example, in most of the large cities the former Fire 
apd Police Boards have been abolished, and it is believed that 
greater effectiveness has been secured through Fire and Police 
Commissioners. 

Fire and Police Board —Milwaukee still retains a Fire and 
Police Board. The work of the Fire and Police Board is to ap¬ 
point the Chief of Fire and the Chief of Police, to examine all 
employes for the departments and to pass upon the suspension 
or expulsion from the service. 

Besides the chief, the police department consists of one in¬ 
spector, one captain, six lieutenants, one secretary and five hun¬ 
dred and forty patrolmen. 

The fire department is composed of a chief engineer, one 
first assistant chief engineer, six assistant chief engineers and 
five hundred stnd seventy-seven assistant firemen. 

Public Works Department —Some of the most important work 
of the city is done by the Department of Public Works. All 
other departments would be ineffective if the work of the Public 
Works Department were not done. At the head of the Public 
Works department, there has been placed a Commissioner of 
Public Works. He must be an expert in his field which is that of 
a city engineer, with some knowledge of civil and mechanical 


10 


engineering, with the method of handling and disposing of garb¬ 
age and sewerage and the important question of keeping the city 
clean. 

Other members of the department are the Deputy Commis¬ 
sioner, City Engineer, City Engineer of Power Plants and five 
Superintendents. The five Superintendents are a Superintendent 
of Street Construction and Repairs, a Superintendent of Bureau 
of Street Sanitation, a Superintendent of Water Works, a Su¬ 
perintendent of Bridges and Public Buildings and a Superin¬ 
tendent of Sewerage. 

Health Department —Next in importance to the Department 
of Public Works may be placed the Health Department. At the 
head of this department, also, there is appointed an expert who 
must be a physician. He is appointed for four years by the 
mayor, subject to the confirmation of the council. His qualifica¬ 
tions should be more than those of a private practising physician. 
He should have a comprehensive knowledge of the question of 
city hygiene. 

This department is also separated into many divisions, in¬ 
cluding such as Vital Statistics, which keeps the records of births, 
deaths, causes of deaths, contagious diseases and accidents; Edu¬ 
cation ; Tuberculosis Division which gets in touch with individual 
cases through the examinations made at dispensaries, carries on 
its work of cure and prevention through its staff of nurses that 
visit the families of patients, educates the public on the subject 
of tuberculosis through its corps of lecturers and has charge of 
the Preventorium and the Blue Mound Sanitarium; Child Wel¬ 
fare which maintains stations for weighing children and advis¬ 
ing with mothers, handles fresh air pavilions, inspects baby 
farms, conducts classes for little mothers and directs a milk sup¬ 
ply for needy children; Bacteriological and Chemical Labora¬ 
tories, the first of which tests for disease germs and watches the 
milk supply, the second examines the milk, butter, cheese, drugs, 
patent medicines, bakery supplies, egg substitutes, beverages, 
sausages, meat, water, gas supply, and various food products; 
Food Inspection; Sanitation, which inspects lodging houses and 
posts various notices for the Health Department; Contagious 
Diseases and South View Hospital; and School Hygiene. Each 
department is in charge of a director. 

11 


Building Inspector —The work of the Building Inspector in¬ 
cludes the enforcing of all city ordinances bearing on the con¬ 
struction of buildings, theaters, bill boards, elevators and elec¬ 
trical wiring. 

In each of these departments where expert knowledge and, at 
times, quick executive action is necessary, a single man is placed 
at the head. 

There are a number of administrative departments made up 
largely of tax-paying citizens, who merely give a certain amount 
of their time voluntarily to public service. 

Museum and Library Boards —An example of the citizen 
board is the Museum Board, made up of the Superintendent of 
Schools, President of School Board, certain tax payers and mem¬ 
bers of the City Council. The duties of such a board as well as 
of the Library Board are to select a responsible director or 
librarian to handle the museum or library and to act in an ad¬ 
visory capacity to such hired employes. 

City Service Commission —^An important department is the 
City Service Commission whose duty it is to examine all ap¬ 
plicants for city positions, barring the fire, police and teachers. 

Election Commission —‘The Election Commission has charge 
of all election machinery, placing of booths, handling of ballots, 
and the appointing of election officials in each precinct. 

Park Commission and Public Land Commission —In addition, 
there are a Park Commission and a Public Land Commission. 
The duties of the latter are to recommend the acquiring of any 
land needed by the city for public purposes; and of the former to 
improve, control, and generally manage the parks and boulevards. 

School. Board —In many cities the School Board is an admin¬ 
istrative board, appointed by the mayor. Milwaukee elects the 
School Board of fifteen members by popular vote. The duties of 
this body are to appoint a Superintendent of Schools, teachers 
and other employes of the school system, to decide upon matters 
of school curricula and text books, and to have general charge 
of the buildings and school grounds. 

The revenues for the public schools are received from the 
following sources: 


12 


—State tax, General, State apportionment of 7/10 mill tax 
and income state school fund. 

2— County tax. General, levied by the Board of Supervisors 
for an amount equaling the general state tax received. 

3— State tax. Special, School for deaf, one hundred fifty dol¬ 
lars for every pupil enrolled in the city school for nine months. 

4 — State tax. Special, School for blind, two hundred dollars 
for every pupil in the city school for nine months. 

5— City tax, school fund, levied by the Common Council for 
general school purposes, not more than 2.7 mills. 

6— City tax, school repair fund, levied by the Common Coun¬ 
cil for repairs and grounds, .3 mills. 

7— City tax. Trade School fund, levied by Common Council, 
.3 mills. 

8— City tax, extension work fund, levied by Common Coun¬ 
cil for evening and vacation schools, gymnasiums and baths, not 
more than .2 mills. 

9— Miscellaneous receipts, such as fees received from pupils 
and sale of old material. 

Commissioners of Public Debt —The Commissioners of Pub¬ 
lic Debt are three in number and are appointed by the mayor with 
the approval of the Council. 

This Commission superintends the issue and use of all city 
bonds, conducts their sale, attends to the payment of interest on 
the same and the sinking fund for the payment of the principal. 

Harbor Commission —The Harbor Commission, an advisory 
body, is to advance the city’s facilities for navigation and plan 
the development of the outer and inner harbors. 

Sewerage Commission —The Sewerage Commission has 
charge of planning and constructing a sewerage system and holds 
office until the work is completed, any vacancies by death being 
filled by the mayor with the consent of the Council. 

Bureau of Smoke Suppression —The Bureau of Smoke Sup¬ 
pression prosecutes all violations of the smoke ordinance within 
and one mile from the city limits. 

Municipal Reference Library —A Municipal Reference Li- 

13 


brary has been established as a bureau of information on civic 
and municipal affairs. It furnishes information to members of 
the City Council, as well as the public, and advises on the prepara¬ 
tion of ordinances, if requested. 

Tax Department —The Tax Department fixes annually the 
true value of all property, both real and personal, for taxation 
purposes, prepares the assessment rolls, computes the annual tax 
rate and writes and computes the tax roll, ready for the City 
Treasurer to collect the taxes. 



CHAPTER III. 


MUNICIPAL PROBLEMS 


City Streets 

The streets are important as a means of traffic. They are 
the city’s arteries through which its foot travellers and vehicles 
must pass. The streets also provide space for the location of sub¬ 
ways, water, gas, and sewer pipes, elevated roads, telephone poles, 
trees and lamp posts. Of no less importance is the use of the 
streets for recreation, ventilation and sun light. 

The handling of streets is usually placed in the Street De¬ 
partment which in most cities is a part of the Department of Pub¬ 
lic Works. The work of this department consists of planning the 
streets, locating them, determining their width, and recommend¬ 
ing the acquiring of the necessary land. When the location of a 
street has been decided upon, the Street Department must con¬ 
struct the streets and keep them in repair. 

Streets have been classified in various ways; as trunk streets 
carrying heavy traffic which may be either freight or persons, re¬ 
tail business streets, financial, wholesale and office streets, boule¬ 
vards and parkways, main residence streets, minor residence 
streets, and finally, alleys. 

The width of streets must depend entirely upon the purpose 
for which they are to be used. For a double track car line about 
20 feet are allowed. Each vehicle zone requires about 8 feet. If 
the street provides for zones for standing vehicles an extra 7 
feet is required for this purpose, and sidewalks may range all the 
way from 16 to 20 feet in retail business districts to 6 and 10 feet 
in residence districts. 

It is estimated that about 35% of the area of American cities 
is devoted to streets. In the construction of streets an important 
problem is the use of contract or direct labor. It is generally 
conceded that contract labor is quicker and cheaper, but that 
there is much opportunity for political favoritism and the con¬ 
tracts are not always carefully fulfilled. The direct system is 
more costly but the work, in some cases, is better done. 

15 


In paving streets much care must be exercised in selecting 
the kinds .of material. A good street should be easy to clean, 
safe to drive on, noiseless, durable, and not too expensive. The 
value of different kinds of streets may be briefly estimated. 

Granite blocks are durable, slippery, noisy, hard to keep clean, 
and easily displaced. Wood blocks are noiseless, smooth, slip¬ 
per}*, expensive, and do not stand heavy traffic. Asphalt is 
smooth, noiseless, dustless, easy to keep clean but expensive. 
Cement concrete is smooth, easy to clean, not slippery, very dur¬ 
able, dustless, and fairly expensive; brick is dustless, easy to 
clean, durable, not slippery, good for grades; macadam is free 
from dust, low first cost, noiseless, not slippery, not very durable 
for hea^y traffic. 

A City’s Water Supply 

The Water Department, in the majority of cities, is a division 
of the Department of Public Works. Certain types of expert 
knowledge are necessary in the Water Department. First of all, 
engineering knowledge is required in making the plans, and con¬ 
structing, and repairing the water plant. Second, sanitary experts 
are needed whose business it is to analyze the water and make the 
necessar\* arrangements for purification. Finally, the business 
of the department requires financial skill in deciding upon the 
method of fixing the rates. It is generally conceded that all posi¬ 
tions in the Water Department should be filled by civil service. 

Ever}* city requires a sufficient supply of pure water, in 
American cities, amounting to approximately 100 gallons per 
capita daily. 

Water may be drawn from various sources, such as rivers, 
ground water, water sheds, and lakes. 

Its uses may be classified under three principal heads—domes¬ 
tic, industrial and public. In the latter case the water is used 
most largely for street cleaning, by the Fire Department, and 
for fountains. 

To secure a healthful water supply is the problem that faces 
most American cities. If the water is drawn from ground water 
sources, it is usually loaded with elements that make it extremely 
hard. Such cities have to deal with the problem of softening the 

16 


water or else it is difficult to use in industry. Lime or soda ash 
is used for this purpose. 

Water taken from rivers carries a great amount of sediment 
and the problem in this case is one of clarifying the water. This 
may be done by storing it in reservoirs until it settles. This is 
sometimes a slow process and requires the addition of sulphate 
of iron. 

Another problem that must be solved in connection with 
water supplies is growth of various forms of algae in water 
pipes and reservoirs. Copper sulphate may be used in disposing 
of this. 

In these three instances it is not necessarily true that the 
water carries any dangerous disease. The purifying of water 
from disease has largely been made neecssary by the contaminat¬ 
ing materials turned into the sources of water by man himself. 
Some methods for purifying water are: First, a slow sand filter. 
An acre of filter will provide about three million gallons of 
water daily. Other cities have found the rapid sand filter more 
effective. 

A large number have found it necessary to sterilize the water 
by using hypochlorite of lime or soda. 

A fourth and last method is purification by storage. This 
is not practical for every large city as the water supply would 
require too large a storage capacity. 

It is generally admitted that the best method of determining 
water rates is through the meter system, although the argument 
presented against this is that it falls heavily upon the poorer 
districts and they economize on their use of water to a point 
that does not make for healthfulness. 

Disposal of City Waste 

Professor Munro has defined scientific scavenging as “mov¬ 
ing all waste in the most effective and economical way.” The 
purpose of scavenging is to secure health and orderliness. It 
is estimated that the entire municipal waste is equal to about 
one ton per person per day. 

Wastes may be classified as sewerage, which is water waste; 
garbage, made up of organic material, both of which may en¬ 
danger the health of communities; refuse, sweepings from the 

17 


streets composed both of organic and inorganic matter; rubbish 
or bulky inorganic material such as boxes and cans; and finally 
ashes. 

The problem in connection with waste is its disposal. Ashes 
are usually dealt with by dumping into low places, filling in the 
ground and making valuable land. 

Rubbish is incinerated by some cities; others have resorted 
to dumping their rubbish into the sea. This latter has been found 
an unwise policy as it usually drifted back along the shore. 
Many cities dispose of their rubbish by dumping in the same 
way as ashes. 

Street refuse is collected on important, busy streets through 
the day by the white wings who pick up the litter at the time 
it is deposited. The flushing of business streets must ordinarily 
take place at night when squeegee wagons and rotary brooms 
are brought into use. The street sweepings are ordinarily used for 
land filling. 

The disposal of garbage is a much more serious problem 
than all the preceding ones. A few cities have resorted to bury¬ 
ing their garbage, using it as feed for hogs, or dumping it into 
the river or sea. The more approved method is that of incin¬ 
eration or reduction. The reduction process is used to a con¬ 
siderable extent in New York and Chicago. Twenty-nine of 
our larger cities are disposing of their garbage by reduction. 
From these 29 cities it is reported that 72,000,000 pounds of 
grease and 150,000,000 tons of fertilizer valued at $11,000,000 
were saved by the reduction process. 

The disposal of sewerage includes the ordinary domestic 
sewerage and the storm sewerage. Some cities have put in 
separate systems of sewers to handle these two types. The 
volume for an American city is approximately 100 gallons per 
capita per day of sewerage. Certain important questions must 
be decided in planning a sewerage system. 

First, the topography of a city must be studied—its grades, 
the nature of its soil, the structure of the rock strata, and the 
location of subways and other public utility pipes. The sewers 
must have sufficient incline to keep the sewerage in movement. 
The size of the sewer system can be approximately determined 

18 


by multiplying the population by 150 gallons and allowing some¬ 
thing for increase of population. 

The next matter to be determined is the material. The large 
mains are mostly constructed of brick, stone, or concrete, the 
smaller conduits are cast iron or vitrified clay pipes. The cost 
of a sewer system per mile will depend largely upon the size 
and material used, and on the geological formation and the depth 
to which the pipes must be laid. New York has approximately 
2,000 miles of sewerage, Milwaukee about 500. 

The cleaning of sewers is accomplished either by flushing 
stations or through hose placed in man holes, while the catch 
basins are a means of preventing the street dirt from entering 
the mains. 

The great problem in the sewerage system is its method of 
disposal. In getting rid of the sewerage, health and expense are 
the two main items to consider. Cities built on the sea some¬ 
times dispose of their sewerage by emptying it into the ocean. 
Unless it is carried out to a considerable distance there is danger 
that such sewerage will return and injure bathing beaches and 
oyster beds; but as a whole, the danger from this source is very 
little compared with the danger of emptying sewerage into lakes 
and rivers. 

When sewerage is turned into a river it should at least be 
screened and the more solid and offensive portions removed. 
Then the liquid portion may be treated with chemicals and 
diluted in the river. Such treatment will still leave a certain 
amount of dangerous bacteria some portion of which will be 
taken care of by oxygen, and crustacia found in the river. 

There are several methods of handling sewerage before it 
is turned into a river: First, by screening; second, by sedi¬ 
mentation; third, by use of septic tanks, and by intermittant 
sand filters. Sewerage may also be handled on sewerage farms, 
but this has never been greatly favored in the United States. 

Police Protection 

In handling the police force of cities one of the problems 
involved is whether it is state controlled or controlled by the 
municipality. Those favoring state control hold that the work 
of the police is largely that of enforcing state laws and that 

19 


the courts have decided that the police are agents of the state; 
that municipal control leads to domination of the police force 
by politicians and that the state controlled police are more effi¬ 
cient. On the other hand, those opposed to state control hold 
that it is more expensive and that the people pay the police but 
may not direct the force. 

State control may be exercised in various ways. An example 
or state control of police is the city of Boston, where the Police 
Commissioner is appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts. 
The Police Commissioner has complete control except as to the 
number and pay of the police force. To decide these matters 
he must consult with the Mayor. Baltimore is another instance 
of a state controlled police force. Three commissioners are 
elected by the Maryland Legislature and in their hands is placed 
control of the Baltimore police. 

The work of the police force may be divided into several 
heads: First, patrolling the streets. Eighty percent of the 
men are used for this purpose. The city is divided into districts 
or precincts and in each district is located a police station as 
headquarters. 

Searching out information is the work of the detective force. 
This may be handled by a central bureau or by detectives attached 
to each of the stations. 

The maintenance department has charge of keeping the tele¬ 
phones, patrol boxes, etc., in order. Some cities are provided 
with a traffic squad, used in handling the traffic on business 
streets. In many cases portions of police divisions are detached 
from regular service to do special duty, such as listing voters. 

The head of the police force in most large cities is a Police 
Commissioner. Few cities still retain the Police Board. The 
Police Commissioner is the more effective method as the time 
and thought of one person is required in handling such an 
important matter as the policing of a city. 

The Police Commissioner may be appointed from civil life 
or may reach his place by promotion thru the police force. 
European cities seldom use the method of promotion. Colonel 
Roosevelt is a good example of a police commissioner who was 
appointed from civil life. 

Chicago uses the method almost entirely of promoting its 


20 


police officials from the force. The Police Commissioner must 
have certain qualifications. His integrity should be unquestioned, 
he should have a broad outlook, be firm and decisive, with a 
thorough respect for the law and able to deal with the public 
and his subordinates. It is his business to issue all general 
orders, receive all reports, provide for the trial of police officers 
and supervise their appointment and promotion. 

The station located in each police precinct is used as an 
office, as a place for reserve officers and to temporarily hold 
prisoners. 

At the head of each police station is a captain who is in charge 
during the day. It is his duty to assign the patrolmen, make 
daily reports to the Superintendent, and keep the records of 
the station. Some cities have provided the rank of lieutenant 
and two lieutenants are in charge of the station at night time. 
Others have placed two desk sergeants in charge of the station 
at night. 

Each precinct is provided with four to eight sergeants. Their 
business is on the street. They inspect the platoons, accompany 
the squads and visit the patrolmen on their beats. 

The patrolmen are assigned to regular routes. It is their 
work to prevent crime, make arrests, report accidents, give all 
necessary information, and to keep traffic in order. 

Formerly the Police Department was largely filled on the 
recommendation of ward politicians. The civil service has re¬ 
placed this in most American cities, and a physical and written 
examination, with a close investigation of past record, is now 
required. 

A number of cities have provided training schools for the 
police. Paris has a four weeks’ course. London has an eight 
weeks’ course of lectures, physical exercises and practical work. 
New York has recently established a school for policemen, the 
course being six weeks long. The course includes military drill, 
use of weapons, first aid, legal rules and procedure, making 
out of reports and the duties of a policeman. 

The promotion of the police is made in various ways— 
either on efficiency records, or examinations, or on a personal 
recommendation of the superior officer. The best method seems 
to be a promotional examination with recommendations from a 
superior officer. 2 i 


Punishment of the police may extend to fines, extra duty, 
loss of pay, suspension or dismissal, and the punishment may 
be for neglect of duty or conduct unbecoming an officer. 

Forms of Municipal Government 

Mayor-Council Form —Most American cities are organized on 
the plan of three distinct departments that act as a check upon 

MAVOP COUNCIL WM 



each other. Under the Mayor-Council form of government the 
executive and legislative powers are vested in two separate 
departments—the executive has at least one legislative power, 
that of signing or vetoing bills; the Council has at least one 
executive power, that of confirming the appointments made by 


22 









































































the Mayor. In all forms of city government the judiciary is 
kept entirely distinct. 

Commission Form —The Commission form of government 
originated thru the disaster in Galveston in 1900. It was found 
that when quick and effective action was needed that the Mayor- 
Council form of governrnent failed to function. A commission 
was appointed and later became the government of Galveston. 
This form of government has spread to cities in almost every 
state in the union. The distinctive point is that the legislative 
and executive powers are vested in the hands of a single com¬ 
mission, made up usually of five men. 


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f CjoB/cmRY 1 


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J 

Com rntJJiCner- o* 

Pt^b/fc ^ffoirs 

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One of these commissioners is usually designated the Mayor. 
The plan of work may be illustrated from Des Moines, one 
councilman or commissioner is Superintendent of the Depart¬ 
ment of Public Safety and has in charge the Police Department, 
Fire Department, Health Department and Public Safety. 

A second is Superintendent of the Department of Accounts 
and Finance, having in charge the Treasurer, Auditor, Assessor 
and Markets. The third is Superintendent of the Department 
of Streets and Public Improvements, having as its work street 
cleaning, paving, sewers, street lighting and engineering. 

The Superintendent of Parks and Public Property has charge 
of parks and public buildings. 

The Superintendent of Public Affairs includes in his depart¬ 
ment Police Court, City Clerk, Legal Department, Library and 
Civil Service Commission. 


23 













This body of men has the power to pass ordinances and 
administer them. There are two Wisconsin cities that have 
adopted this form, Appleton and Eau Claire. 

City Manager Form —The City Manager form of government 
reached prominence in Dayton, Ohio, in 1914. It has since spread 
to nearly 200 cities. A man known as the City Manager was 
brought from an adjoining city and in his hands were placed 
large executive powers. 

C/fy Afanaaer /^orw o/ Coverr>nre/7 f 



This form of city government more closely approaches the 
business corporation than anything else. The people may be 
considered as stockholders. A City Council or Commission of 
five members, elected by the people on a non-partisan ballot, 
stands in the relation of a board of directors. The City Com¬ 
mission hires a City Manager—an engineer—who to all intents 


24 
























and purposes is like the manager of a great business. He 
appoints the department heads. Dayton first offered this position 
to Col. Goethals. 

The argument for both this and the Commission form of 
government is that the responsibility can be more quickly placed 
when there is failure to provide for the safety of the community. 
Also that because of the short ballot that is used there is greater 
possibility for the voter to be thoroughly acquainted with the 
qualifications of the men placed to office, that there is a lessen¬ 
ing of civic corruption, that there is greater efficiency in handling 
the work, and that the government resembles a business 
corporation. 

The arguments against the Commission plan are that it is 
undemocratic, decreases the educative work of the city by lim¬ 
iting to a small number those who take part in public affairs, 
that it concentrates the appropriating and spending power in the 
same hands, and that it increases the power of party organization. 

Public Utilities 

The handling of public utilities is an important municipal 
problem. A public utility is a service used by a large number 
of the people of a community located either on, below or above 
the street. It cannot withstand competition for any length of 
time and tends to become a monopoly. 

The franchises for the use of city streets by private public 
utility corporations are granted by city Councils. Some of the 
important public utilities are water works, gas, and electric light, 
electric railway companies and telephone systems. In each one 
of these a certain portion of the plant may consist of such things 
as power houses, car barns, gas generating plant, but the possi¬ 
bility of operating the plant depends upon the use of the city 
streets. 

The problem involved is that of private or public ownership 
of public utilities. The tendency in recent years has been toward 
the granting of short time indeterminate franchises that could 
be terminated by the municipality whenever the service rendered 
by the public utility was considered below the standard. 

Arguments against public ownership of public utilities are 
that public ownership would greatly increase the indebtedness 

25 


of the municipalities, that it would not lower rates as the man¬ 
agement would be less economical and efficient, that it is not 
progressive and would open the way for more municipal corrup¬ 
tion since it would increase positions that would be used by 
unscrupulous politicians. 

The arguments for municipal ownership hold that it would 
lower rates, give a better service, remove corruption of offcials 
by corporations and aid the civil service. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON MUNICIPALITIES 

Principles and Methods of Municipal Administration. 

.W. B. Munro 

The Government of American Cities.W. B. Munro 

Municipal Administration.John A. Fairlie 

Municipal Government and Municipal Problems.. F. J. Goodnow 

Primary Elections.C. E. Merriam 

Government of Great American Cities.D. F. Wilcox 

American City.D. F. Wilcox 

Commission Government in American Cities.E. S. Bradford 

Growth of Democracy in the United States.F. A. Cleveland 

The City Manager.H. A. Toulmin 

Municipal Franchises.D. F. Wilcox 

Refuse Disposal and Power Production.W. F. Goodrich 

Purification of Public Water Supplies.G. A. Johnson 

City Roads and Pavements.W. P. Judson 

Experts in City Government.E. A. Fitzpatrick 

The American City, Magazine. 













CHAPTER IV. 


TOWN AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT 

Town Government 

A town is a division of a county created by the County 
Board or the State Legislature. Some towns have the same 
boundaries as the Congressional Townships. 

The government of a town is the nearest approach to a direct 
democracy that we have. Every voter of the town may partici¬ 
pate in the town meeting, in voting taxes, making by-laws and 
appropriating money. 

The town meeting, held on the first Tuesday of April each 
year, elects the town officers. It has the power of taxation, 
the power to borrow money and to expend it for the support of 
the poor, the repair and building of bridges and roads and the 
upkeep of the town hall. 

The Town Board, which supervises town affairs and the 
expenditure of taxes, is composed of three supervisors. It audits 
the accounts of all officers who handle the town money. 

The Town Treasurer collects all town money, takes care 
of it and expends it when allowed by the Town Board. 

The Town Clerk posts by-laws and notices, performs duties 
connected with elections, and keeps the records of the town 
meeting and Town Board. These officers all serve one year. 

Justices of the Peace are elected for t'wo years. They may 
try criminal cases if the punishment is not more than $100.00 
fine or six months in the court jail or both, and civil cases 
when not more than $200.00 are involved in the dispute. 

There may be three Constables in each town. It is their 
duty to keep the peace, arrest for violation of the law and to 
serve writs. 

The duties of the Town Assessors are to list and evaluate 
property. 

A Superintendent of Highways is appointed by the Town 
Board. 


27 


County Government 

A county is the largest administrative division within a state. 
There are 71 counties in Wisconsin. 

If the City Government has been, according to Bryce, Amer¬ 
ica’s most conspicuous failure, the County Government has, at 
least, not been a success. In the majority of cases it is merely 
a ramshackle affair without any definite head. In 70 of Wis¬ 
consin’s counties the County Board consists of the chairman of 
the Town Board, a supervisor from each incorporated village 
and from each ward of an incorporated city. 

This Board, which is the governing and law making body of 
the county, has the power to levy and collect taxes, borrow money, 
audit and pay all county expenses, fix the boundaries of town¬ 
ships, care for all county institutions, and lay out and manage 
a system of state roads. 

County Clerk 

The County Clerk, who acts as the secretary for the County 
Board, performs all duties imposed on him in connection with 
the assessment and collection of taxes, the preparation and dis¬ 
tribution of ballots, and the canvass and return of votes at 
general, judicial and special elections, issue hunters’ and marriage 
licenses, and must sign all orders for the payment of money 
when authorized by the County Board. 

County Treasurer 

The County Treasurer receives, cares for, and pays out the 
county money on the order of the County Board, signed by 
the County Clerk. 

Sheriff 

The Sheriff shall hold no other office and is ineligible for two 
years succeeding the termination of his office. He has the power 
to appoint deputy sheriffs, has charge of the county jail and 
prisoners, serves all writs, and must attend the sessions of the 
circuit court. 

He shall keep and preserve the peace in the county, suppress 
insurrections, summon jurors to attend court, convey convicts 
to state prison, execute warrants for commitment in vagrancy, 

28 


and dispose at auction of property sold under mortgage and other 
properties as provided by law. 

Coroner 

The Coroner acts as Sheriff in case of the disability of the 
Sheriff and examines into the cause of all violent and accidental 
deaths. 

District Attorney 

The District Atttorney, one of the most important county 
officers, prosecutes or defends all actions, civil or criminal, in 
which the state or county is interested or a party, and if the 
place of trial is changed, he prosecutes or defends in such other 
county. It is his duty to prosecute all criminal actions except 
common assault and battery before any magistrate of his county 
other than those exercising police jurisdiction of cities and vil¬ 
lages in cases arising under the charter or ordinance of the city 
or village, to give advice to county officials, on request to attend 
grand juries and on request of the Attorney General to argue 
cases before the Supreme Court, to collect evidence for the con¬ 
viction of crime and to perform all other duties required by law. 
In Milwaukee County the District Attorney tries criminal cases 
in the District and the Municipal Court. 

Register of Deeds 

The Register of Deeds keeps a record of all deeds and mort¬ 
gages and of all births, deaths and marriages. 

Clerk of the Circuit Court 

The Clerk of the Circuit Court, elected for two years, keeps 
all records, books and papers of the Circuit Court. These books 
include the court record, a minute book showing court proceed¬ 
ings, judgment and order book, and a record of officers. He 
prepares the calendar for the Circuit Court, receives petitions 
for naturalization of aliens and issues certificates of citizenship. 

County Surveyor 

It is the duty of the County Surveyor to determine boundary 
lines in case of dispute and to make a record of all surveys. 

29 


County Superintendent of Schools 

The County Superintendent of Schools has the general super¬ 
vision of county schools outside of incorporated cities. He is 
elected in the spring for two years. It is his business to certifi¬ 
cate teachers and inspect all the schools at least annually and 
to hold yearly an institute for teachers. 

County Judge 

The County Judge, whose term of office is four years, while 
all other officers serve two years, has certain duties which will 
be taken up under “Judicial System.” 

Besides these there are certain officers appointed by the 
County Board, such as Highway Commissioner, Agricultural 
Representative and Superintendent of Poor. 

The Government of Milwaukee County differs from the gen¬ 
eral plan. The County Board is composed of nineteen members 
chosen from the nineteen assembly districts. 

The administration of the county is in the hands of the 
County Board of Administration. Three members are selected 
by the County Board and two appointed by the Governor for a 
term of five years. 

The duties of this Board are to have charge of the School 
of Agriculture and Domestic Science, County Hospital for 
Insane and Asylum for Chronic Insane, Tuberculosis Hospital, 
County Hospital, Alms House, Poor Farm, Out Door Relief, 
and the Home for Dependent Children. 

The Board of Election Commissioners 

The Board of Election Commissioners, three members ap¬ 
pointed for three years by the County Board, has charge of 
preparing for and holding elections. 

Park Commission 

The Park Commission of seven members appointed by the 
County Board purchases, plans and lays out parks. 

Highway Commissioner 

The Highway Commissioner elected by the County Board 


30 


may be examined by the State Highway Commissioner as to 
fitness. Under the direction of the State Highway Commission 
he has charge of the construction and maintenance of all high¬ 
ways. 


Local Government in County, Town and Village 
J. A. Fairlie 


CHAPTER V. 


STATE GOVERNMENT 

The great importance of the state in the American Federal 
system has been excellently summarized by Arthur N. Holcombe: 

“The powers which are reserved to the states, though limited, 
are nevertheless very extensive and highly important. They 
include among others the following: 

“1. The power to establish and maintain organized govern¬ 
ments, including governments for the subdivisions of the states, 
counties, towns, villages and cities, subject to the single condi¬ 
tion that they be republican in form. 

“2. The power to regulate the suffrage, subject to the con¬ 
dition that no citizen may be denied the right to vote on account 
of race, color or previous condition of servitude. 

“3. The power to levy and collect taxes, except upon inter¬ 
state and foreign commerce and upon instruments of the federal 
government. 

“4. The police power, including the whole field of legislation 
to preserve the peace within the state, to protect the public health 
and morals, and to promote the public welfare when threatened 
by the unrestrained activity of persons within the borders of the 
respective states, subject to the condition that no person be 
deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, 
nor be denied the equal protection of the law. 

“5. Hitherto unfathomed powers to deal with the vast sub¬ 
jects of religion, education and the supply of public utilities, 
with the exception of the comparatively few public services, such 
as the post office delegated to the federal government. 

“6. The power to create corporations and trusts. 

“7. To deal with the whole subject of private law.” ^ 


^ State Government in the United States, page 17, Arthur N. 
Holcombe. 


32 



Legislative Department 

While the p,owers and prohibitions of Congress are definitely 
stated in the United States Constitution, the powers of the State 
Legislature are nowhere enumerated. There are, however, cer¬ 
tain prohibitions on the State Legislature; first, in the United 
States Constitution; second, in the State Constitution; and 
finally, the State Legislature cannot legislate upon matters that 
have been given to Congress to legislate upon. 

The State Legislature is composed of two houses—the 
Senate and Assembly. The Assembly consists of 100 members, 
chosen for a term of two years, and members of the Legislature 
must have resided one year in the state and must be qualified 
voters of the district they represent. The Senate is composed 
of 33 members chosen for four years. 

An important question in connection with the State Assembly 
is the matter of apportionment. The state is apportioned by the 
State Legislature after the taking of each federal census. In 
making this apportionment for the Assembly the population of 
the state is divided by 100 and in laying out the assembly dis¬ 
tricts care is taken that each district shall be composed of 
contiguous territory. It may consist of a county, two or more 
counties, or a part of a county. City, ward and township boun¬ 
daries are regarded in laying out assembly districts. 

For the senatorial districts the population of the state is 
divided by thirty-three and no assembly district is divided up 
in forming senatorial districts. 

The Legislature meets every other year at the capitol of the 
state, beginning in January and continuing its session until it 
completes its work. It may meet in special session if convened 
by the Governor. The members receive a salary of $500.00 and 
ten cents mileage coming to and returning from the session. 

The Lieutenant Governor of the state presides over the Sen¬ 
ate. The Assembly elects from its members a speaker. A chief 
clerk and sergeant-at-arms are elected by each house. 

The speaker of the assembly, at the opening of each legisla¬ 
tive session, appoints twenty-five standing committees. The 
standing committees of the Senate—twenty in number—are 
elected. 


33 


Passing a Bill 

Any bill may originate in either house of the Legislature. 

Any member may introduce a bill. After recognition he says, 
“I ask leave to introduce a bill.” A messenger takes the bill 
to the clerk. The title of the bill is read by the clerk and the 
speaker announces, “First reading of the bill.” The title is 
again read and the speaker announces, “Second reading of 
the bill.” 

The speaker refers the bill to the proper committee and 
copies of the bill are printed. 

The committee may amend the bill, alter parts of it, report 
favorably or adversely. It reports the bill back to the house 
when it has finished its work. 

A motion is made that the bill be engrossed and read a third 
time. Debate may now take place and amendments be adopted. 
If the motion is lost, the bill stops at this point. If it passes, 
it is reprinted with any changes made in it. 

When it comes again before the house the bill is read a fourth 
time. If it appropriates money, it is read in full. Otherwise 
by title only. 

A motion is made to pass the bill and debate may take place. 
If it passes, it is sent to the other house, where an exactly 
similar process is gone thru. If it passes both houses, it is sent 
to the Governor for his signature. If he vetoes the bill, it 
may become a law by repassing both houses with a two-thirds 
vote. 

Executive Department 

The executive power of the state is vested in a Governor 
and Lieutenant Governor who hold office for two years. The 
Governor must be a citizen of the United States and a qualified 
voter of the state. His duties are to act as commander in chief 
of the military and naval forces of the state, to communicate 
to the Legislature information and recommendations concerning 
the conditions of the state, to sign or veto bills, to grant pardons, 
reprieves and commutations except in cases of impeachment and 
treason, and to execute the laws of the state. 

The Governor may fill vacancies in some county offices and 


34 


in elective state offices. He has the power to remove certain 
county and a number of state officers. 

He receives a salary of $5,000.00 a year, a contingent fund 
of $2,000.00 and the use of the executive mansion at Madison. 

Administrative Department 

There are four elected administrative officers in the state. 

Secretary of State —The Secretary of State acts as auditor. 
He is sometimes spoken of as the watch dog of the treasury. 
His signature is necessary for the payment of all appropriations 
made by the State Legislature. He also keeps a record of all 
state laws and the state seal is in his possession. His signature 
is necessary on all state documents. 

The State Treasurer has the usual duties of all treasurers that 
represent government units. He receives, keeps safely, and pays 
out the money of the state on the order of the State Legislature, 
signed by the Secretary of State. 

Superintendent of Public Instruction—The Superintendent of 
Public Instruction administers the laws relating to the public 
school system. He has charge of the distribution of the common 
school fund income, inspection of all classes of public schools, 
and a general supervision over industrial, evening, commercial 
and continuation schools. 

Attorney General —The Attorney General represents the state 
in criminal cases pending in the Supreme Court and gives legal 
advice to the various officers of the state and to district attorneys. 
He also defends the orders of the railroad commission and of the 
industrial commission. 

Administrative Boards and Commissions 

The administrative work of Wisconsin is largely carried on 
by its boards and commissions. All members of the commissions 
are appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate. 

Railroad Commission —One of the most important of these 
commissions is the Railroad Commission. It is the work of this 
commission to see that the laws are enforced concerning rail- 


35 


roads, electric lines, express and sleeping car service, telephone, 
telegraph and water power. It has the power to fix reasonable 
rates, to enforce the use of safety devices and to inspect the 
accounts of these public utilities. The commission is composed 
of three members. 

There are five heads under which the work of this commis¬ 
sion may be classified. 

First, the regulation of the service and rates of railroads. 
This includes the determining of freight rates and the making 
of freight classifications and the regulating of passenger service. 
It may require improved station facilities and pass upon the 
number of men in a train crew and the conditions of service. 

Second, the commission administers the Public Utility Law. 
Under this it fixes rates of light, heat, water power and telephone 
companies, passes upon the quality and character of service, and 
approves of the way in which lines are constructed. 

Third, the commission administers the Water Power Law, 
granting permits or franchises to construct dams and controlling 
the level and flow of water. 

Fourth, the administration of the Stock and Bond Law has 
been given to this commission. It controls the issuance of secu¬ 
rities of public service coprorations. 

Finally, in administering the Blue Sky Law, the commission 
files information concerning brokers who sell securities and 
issuing companies who wish to sell their securities in the state. 

Industrial Commission —Another important commission of 
Wisconsin is the Industrial Commission. It is the function of 
this commission to administer all laws bearing upon relations 
between employers and employes. The work of factory inspec¬ 
tion, building inspection, boiler inspection and elevator inspection 
comes under this commission. It has charge of the free employ¬ 
ment offices and the supervision of workmen’s compensation, 
woman and child labor, minimum wage, compulsory education, 
and the inspection of bakeries and confectioneries. This com¬ 
mission also consists of three members. 

The work of factory inspection is entrusted to eight factory 
inspectors assigned to districts in the slate. They inspect fac¬ 
tories and other places of employment to find whether the state 


36 


laws and the orders of the commission that relate to child labor, 
fire prevention, sanitation and safety are being obeyed. They 
suggest ways of safeguarding machines and interest both employe 
and employer in accident prevention. Much of the work of the 
factory inspectors is educational. 

The building inspection division enforces the state building 
code applying to the construction of new buildings, orders requir¬ 
ing safety in existing buildings, and the prevention of accidents 
to workmen engaged in the building trades. The commission 
works under a building code adopted by the commission under 
legisative authority. The work is carried out by two deputies 
continuously in the field. Plans of schools, theaters and hotels 
are submitted to the commission for approval. 

The administration of the Workmen’s Compensation Act 
has brought 19,361 cases of accident before the commission in 
a single year. The commission keeps an especially close check 
on those accidents where failure to properly safeguard machines 
or a violation of the child labor law is the cause. It requires 
that m the first case the employer must pay a 15% increase in 
compensation and in the second case, if the accident occurs to 
a minor of permit age without a permit, the compensation is 
trebled. 

Whenever the employer and employe are subject to the com¬ 
pensation act, it is pointed out by the Industrial Commission, 
that “compensation is payable whenever three facts appear, first, 
the employe was accidentally injured; second, employe was in¬ 
jured while performing service growing out of and incidental 
to his employment; third, such injury was not intentionally 
self-inflicted.” 

When the employer and employe are subject to the compen¬ 
sation act, the provisions of the act are exclusive and the employe 
cannot maintain a suit in court against his employer. The com¬ 
pensation law is an elective act for all private employers and 
their employes. It is compulsory for the state and its sub¬ 
divisions. 

The commission not only has charge of the free employment 
offices, but must license and inspect all private employment 
offices. It conducts free offices at Milwaukee, Superior, Osh¬ 
kosh and La Crosse. 


37 


The enforcing of the state laws bearing on woman and child 
labor affect at least 100,000 women in the industries of Wis¬ 
consin. Fifty-five per cent of all children between 14 and 17 
years of age in Milwaukee are in industry and the whole state 
has about 20,000. 

No state except Wisconsin has an apprenticeship law. Its 
object is to promote the training of skilled mechanics. All 
minors employed as learners must be legally apprenticed and 
in this way assured an all-around training. 

State Board of Control —Perhaps next in importance is the 
State Board of Control. This board supervises the county asy¬ 
lums for the chronic insane and the nine county tuberculosis 
sanitaria. It inspects poor houses, city jails and prisons, work 
houses and police stations, and may condemn such places as 
the board sees fit. It also inspects all private industrial schools, 
hospitals and sanitoria. It acts as a lunacy commission and may 
transfer insane persons from one institution to another, and as 
a Board of Parole, with the consent of the Governor, may parole 
persons from the state prison and the Milwaukee house of cor¬ 
rection. On its own authority it may parole inmates of the 
state reformatory and the State Industrial School for Boys. It 
has charge of the administration of probation laws, the Mothers’ 
Pension Law, and the care of indigent children who are crippled 
or deformed. 

The Mothers’ Pension Law, first passed in 1913 and later 
amended, provides for aid for neglected, abandoned, homeless 
or dependent children. As amended, it compels the county 
boards to make appropriations for this purpose and fixes the 
amount contributed by the state at one-third the sum expended 
by the county. The effort is always made to keep the child with 
its mother if she is competent to care for and educate it. 

The following state institutions are under the State Board 
of Control: 

1— Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane, Mendota. 

2— Northern Hospital for Insane, Winnebago. 

3— Wisconsin School for the Deaf, Delavan. 

A —Wisconsin School for the Blind, Janesville. 

5—Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys, Waukesha. 

38 


6— Wisconsin State Prison, Waupun. 

7— State Public School, Sparta. 

8— Wisconsin Home for Feeble Minded, Chippewa Falls. 

9— Wisconsin State Reformatory, Green Bay. 

10—Wisconsin State Tuberculosis Sanitarium, Wales. 

—Central State Hospital for the Criminal Insane, Waupun. 

12— Wisconsin Industrial Home for Women, Taycheedah. 

13— Southern Wisconsin Home for Feeble Minded and Epileptic, 

Union Grove. 

1^1—Tomahawk Lake Camp, Tomahawk Lake. 

15— Wisconsin Workshop for the Blind, Milwaukee. 

16— Wisconsin Industrial School for Girls, Milwaukee. 

State Board of Industrial Education —The State Board for 
Industrial Education has charge of all state aid for industrial, 
commercial, continuation and evening schools. It approves all 
courses of study for all vocational schools that receive state aid. 

Civil Service Commission —The function of this commission 
is to conduct all examinations and the rating of papers of can¬ 
didates for positions in the classified service of the state. It 
checks and approves pay rolls of all state departments and insti¬ 
tutions as far as these departments are under the classified serv¬ 
ice, and passes upon the promotions within the service. 

State Board of Education —The State Board of Education 
has charge of the management of all financial affairs of the 
educational work of the state. It examines into the studies and 
the methods of educational institutions. It prepares the educa¬ 
tional budget which is presented to the Legislature and audits 
the accounts of any educational institution receiving support from 
the state. 

The State Board of Health —The State Board of Health, 
composed of seven members appointed by the Governor with 
the consent of the Senate, has charge of the health of the state, 
collecting records of births, deaths, marriages and divorces, 
examining into the cause of disease, advising with local health 
officers, enforcing quarantine rules, enforcing laws applying to 
the sanitary conditions of schools and libraries, making tests in 
determining diseases and distributing a large amount of literature 

39 


calculated to educate the public concerning health problems, such 
as communicable diseases and infantile blindness. 

The state is divided into five sanitary districts and a trained 
deputy health officer resides in each district. 

. The board employs a consulting engineer who approves plans 
for all new public water supplies and sewerage disposal systems. 

A local health organization is required by law in every town¬ 
ship, incorporated village and city in the state. The State Health 
Board assists and supervises the local health departments in 
enforcing the state and local rules. 

State Board of Agriculture —The State Board of Agriculture 
has in charge the regulating of state activities along the line of 
agriculture. 

The Division of Live Stock Sanitation seeks to control and 
eradicate animal diseases that may be caused by insects. The 
inspection of stock either for state or interstate shipment is a 
part of this department’s work. 

The Entomological Division is responsible for plant diseases 
and insect pests. It inspects parks, city trees, and gives advice 
as to the best means of eradication of disease. 

This division inspects all plant products brought from abroad 
to prevent any new disease or insect being introduced. Bees are 
inspected to eradicate disease. 

The Seed and Weed Control Division seeks to assure vital 
seeds to the farmers of the state and enforce the weed control 
laws, thus increasing crop production. 

The Immigration Division is interested in the settling of the 
northern part of the state. It seeks to give truthful information 
concerning these new lands. 

The Crop Statistics Division gives accurate information as 
to the total and average yield of crops. It also reports upon the 
weather, including the appearance of frost, rain or sunshine. 

The State Fair Division has charge of the Wisconsin State 
Fair held in Milwaukee. The fair grounds include one hundred 
and forty-seven acres and buildings valued at $400,000. 

Highway Commission —This commission administers the state 
aid highway law and supervises all construction on state aid 
roads and bridges. 


40 


The Federal Aid Law, passed by Congress, provides that 
federal aid is to be given to states for the construction of rural 
post roads, provided a state has a State Highway Department 
and provides an amount at least equal to the amount given by 
the federal government. 

The state and federal aid is concentrated on the State Trunk 
Highway System, totaling not more than five thousand miles and 
connecting all county seats and cities of more than five thousand 
inhabitants. The determining of this system was the work of 
the Highway Commission. 

The State Trunk Highway System is divided into ten mile 
patrol sections, each in charge of a patrolman, who watches for 
needed repairs. 

Tax Commission —This commission administers the tax and 
assessment laws. It makes the state assessment and assesses tel¬ 
egraph, express, sleeping car, railroad, street railway and cor¬ 
poration income taxes, gives advice to local boards of review, 
and supervises the work of the assessors of income and the 
administration of the inheritance tax laws. 

Among the many other boards and commissions of the state 
may be mentioned the Board of Medical Examiners, Banking 
Department, Commissioners of Public Lands, Department of 
Engineering, Geological and Natural History, Insurance Depart¬ 
ment, State Board of Teachers’ Examiners, and State Historical 
Society, State Board of Accountancy, Board of Examiners for 
Architects, Athletic Commission, State Board of fear Examiners, 
Barbers’ Board of Examiners, State Board of Canvassers, Com¬ 
pensation Insurance Board, Conservation Commission, Dairy and 
Food Department, State Board of Dental Examiners, Grain and 
Warehouse Commission, Wisconsin Humane Society, Free 
Library Commission, State Law Library, Live Stock Sanitary 
Board, Lumber Inspectors, Mining School Board, Board of 
Normal Regents, State Oil Inspector, State Board of Pharmacy, 
Trustees Stout Institute, Board of Regents of University of 
Wisconsin, State Board of Vocational Education, Military 
Department, Board of Examiners in Optometry, Committee of 
Examiners for Plumbers, Department of Public Property, State 
Fair Advisory Board. 


41 


Judicial Department 

The Constitution of Wisconsin provides that the judicial 
power of the state shall be vested in a Supreme Court, Circuit 
Courts, Courts of Probate and , Justices of the Peace. It gives 
to the Legislature the power to establish Municipal Courts and 
such inferior courts, with limited civil and criminal jurisdiction, 
in counties as it shall see fit. 

Supreme Court —The Supreme Court is made up of seven 
justices, any four of whom constitute a quorum. The term of 
office is ten years. The justice having the longest continuous 
term of service is the senior justice and is called “Chief Justice.” 

The Supreme Court of the state has original jurisdiction in 
many matters and appellate jurisdiction; it has no trials by jury; 
it has a general superintending control over all inferior courts 
and has the power to issue writs. It meets in January and 
August each year at Madison. 

Circuit Courts —The state is divided into twenty judicial 
circuits. Milwaukee County makes up the second circuit and 
there are six branches in the circuit. There is one circuit judge 
in each circuit except in Milwaukee County where there is a 
judge in each of the six branches of the Circuit Court. The 
Circuit Court meets at least twice each year in each county. 
There are four terms in most counties. 

No person is eligible to the office of judge who is not a 
citizen of the .United States, twenty-five years of age, and a 
qualified elector in the jurisdiction he is elected from. The term 
of office is six years. A Circuit Clerk is elected in each county. 

The Circuit Courts have original jurisdiction over all crim¬ 
inal and civil cases not prohibited by law or excepted by the 
Constitution. According to the state law they have jurisdiction 
over all cases not cognizable by a Justice of the Peace or some 
other inferior court. They have appellate jurisdiction from all 
inferior courts and supervise the same. They may also issue 
various writs. The Circuit Court in Milwaukee County is 
civil only. 

County Courts —According to the state law there is estab¬ 
lished in each county a County Court which shall be held by 

42 


the County Judge at the county seat. They are courts of record 
keeping a court record, a minute book and a record book. There 
is one judge in each county elected for four years. There are 
two County Judges in Milwaukee County. 

Their jurisdiction extends to the probate of wills, the appoint¬ 
ment of guardians to minors and others, to cases of construction 
of wills admitted to probate, and to all cases of trust powers 
created by wills. The jurisdiction of the Milwaukee County 
Court in civil actions has been taken away. 

Civil Court —In 1909 a Civil Court of Milwaukee County 
was established. It has at present seven branches and is a court 
of record. Its jurisdiction extends to cases involving not more 
than $2,000. It handles no equity or criminal cases. 

District Court —The County of Milwaukee was in 1899 
declared a Judicial District for the purpose of establishing a 
District Court. It is a court of record. 

It has the power to try and sentence all offenders against 
the ordinances of Milwaukee City, and shall hear and try all 
charges for misdemeanor arising in the county where the punish¬ 
ment does not exceed one year in the state prison or county 
jail, or a fine of $500.00 or both. It is an inferior criminal 
court and takes the place of magistrate and police court. 

The Municipal Court —There are Municipal Courts in thirty 
counties of the state. The Municipal Court of the City and 
County of Milwaukee is a court of record. It has powers and 
jurisdiction concurrent and equal to those of the Circuit Court 
of the county. 

There are no police courts in Milwaukee. 

Juvenile Court —The Juvenile Court is for dependent, neg¬ 
lected and delinquent children. A dependent child is one under 
sixteen years of age who is destitute, homeless, a dependent upon 
public support, one who begs, or whose home is an unfit place 
for a child. 

Delinquent children include girls under eighteen years of age 
and boys under seventeen years of age who violate a law of 
the state, not punishable with the state prison, who violate city 
ordinances or who are incorrigible. 


43 


The judges of the several courts of record in each county 
each year designate one at least of their number to hear all 
cases of juvenile offenders as indicated above. 

Probation officers are attached to the Juvenile Courts whose 
duties are to attend sessions of the court, perform work of 
investigation, and to act as probation officers for an individual 
child when appointed to such case by the court. 

Justice of the Peace —There are four Justices of the Peace 
in each town elected for two years. They may handle criminal 
cases for which the punishment is not more than six months 
in the county jail or a $100.00 fine or both; and certain civil 
cases if the amount in dispute is not more than $200.00. 

There is only one Justice of Peace in Milwaukee. He has 
no jurisdiction in crimes, garnishment, replevin or attachment. 
He receives $500.00 per year and must turn all fees into the city 
treasury. 

Taxation 

The assessment of property takes place each year, usually 
during the month of May. There are certain classes of property 
exempt from taxation, among which are all property belonging 
to the United States, to, the state or local government, to reli¬ 
gious, scientific or literary associations, the equipment of fire 
companies, the stock of corporations that pay taxes on their 
property, the tools of workmen, wearing apparel, private libraries 
and household furniture within a certain limit. 

The contents of the assessment roll are the lists of real 
estate including land, buildings and personal property. In some 
cases undervaluation is charged. The reasons why an assessor 
may undervalue property is that there would not be much indi¬ 
vidual objection to undervaluation, the assessor would not be 
made unpopular and it also enables the town to avoid some of 
the taxes. 

After the assessment of the property has been made the pro¬ 
cess of equalization follows. Boards of Review revise and correct 
the assessment rolls. In the towns, such Boards of Review are 
usually composed of the supervisors, the clerk and assessor. In 
Milwaukee the Mayor, City Clerk, Tax Commissioner and all 


44 


assessors, seventeen in number, make up the Board of Review. 
The County Board and the State Tax Commission act as equal¬ 
izing boards for the county and state. The assessment roll is 
passed by the Board of Review into the hands of the clerk of 
the town, city or village. 

The rate of taxation must now be determined. The Sec¬ 
retary of State notifies the County Clerks of the proportion of 
state taxes assigned to each county. In turn the County Clerks 
notify the town, village and city clerks of their proportion of 
combined state and county taxes. To the state and county tax 
are added the local taxes and the rate of taxation is found by 
dividing the tax by the valuation of the property in the govern¬ 
ment unit. The tax rolls are now made out and turned over to 
the local treasurer for collection. After collection the local treas¬ 
urer passes on to the county and state treasurers the amounts 
due them. 

If there is failure to pay personal property taxes the local 
treasurer so reports to the County Treasurer. The Sheriff may 
sell the property at auction, returning to the owner all above 
the taxes and costs. 

If there is failure to pay a land tax this also is reported to 
the County Treasurer. He publishes a list with a description 
of the land and the amount of the unpaid tax. 

Any person may pay the tax, receive a tax certificate that 
entitles him to a deed of the land in three years if it is not 
redeemed by the owner before. 

In Milwaukee the Treasurer sells land for city tax and the 
police collect personal defaults. 

The School System of Wisconsin 

The supervision of the public instruction of the state is 
vested in a State Superintendent and such other officers as the 
Legislature may direct. The State Superintendent distributes 
the school money after the law has been complied with under 
which state aid is given, he has authority over the granting of 
teachers’ certificates, and makes courses of study for the district, 
graded and high schools. 

District Schools —State Constitution provides that the 


45 


Legislature shall make laws for the establishing of district schools 
which shall be free to all children between the ages of four and 
twenty. The school districts of a county are laid out by the 
town boards. 

The government of the school district is in the hands of the 
school meeting, which meets on the first Monday in July of 
each year. This body elects the school district officers, the 
director, clerk and treasurer, decides upon school buildings and 
equipment, text books, teachers, length of term and votes the 
school taxes. It is composed of all citizens in the school district 
twenty-one years of age. 

State Graded Schools —State graded schools were established 
by act of the Legislature in 1901. Two classes were provided 
for, a school of three or more departments and one of two 
departments. Special state aid is granted to these schools. 
Practically all of the consolidation of schools that has taken 
place in the state has been in connection with the state graded 
schools. 

High Schools —^Union high schools are formed through the 
organization of territory containing not less than thirty-six 
square miles. In this case the grades below the ninth are state 
graded schools separate in administration from the high schools. 

District Free High Schools are organized through the addition 
of four high school years to the state graded school course. 

City high schools are found in cities that maintain a city 
superintendent. There are eighty city systems in the state. 

Normal Schools —The state maintains nine normal schools. 
There are in each school three main departments, a primary 
department for training teachers for elementary grades one to 
four inclusive; a grammar grade department including grades 
five to eight inclusive, and a high school department for the 
training of high school teachers. In addition each school has 
one or more departments for training teachers for special 
subjects. 

State University —The State Constitution provides for the 
establishing of a State University. The State Board of Regents 
is composed of the State Superintendent, President of the Uni- 


46 


versity ex officio, one member from each Congressional district 
and two from the state at large. The University includes nine 
special divisions, College of Letters and Science, College of 
Engineering, College of Agriculture, Law School, Medical 
School, School of Music, Library School, Graduate School, 
Extension Division. 

Vocational Education —Provision has been made for giving 
state aid to commercial, industrial, continuation and evening 
schools. These schools are especially for those engaged in 
industry who wish to continue their studies. A local board 
of industrial education has charge of the schools and they are 
under the supervision of the State Board of Industrial Educa¬ 
tion. The state pays one-half of the expense of such schools. 

The state has charge of the Stout Institute at Menomonie 
and the Mining Trades School at Platteville. 

The raising of school money is of vital importance. The 
schools are supported, first, by a tax in the school district or 
city; second, by state money distributed from the school fund. 
This school fund for Wisconsin amounts at the present time 
to over four million dollars. It has arisen from the proceeds 
of the sale of land granted to the state by the United States 
consisting of the sixteenth section of each township. Much of 
this land has been sold. 

Next, property forfeited to the state by those dying without 
heirs becomes a part of the school fund, fines for criminal 
offenses above any exceptional court costs go into the state 
school fund. The United States gave five hundred thousand 
acres of land to the State of Wisconsin for internal improve¬ 
ment. Much of this has been sold and turned into the school 
fund. Five per cent of the proceeds of all other sale of land 
go into this fund, and finally, a seven-tenths mill tax is added. 

Finances of the State 

Expenditures —The state expenditures may be grouped under 
Legislative, Executive, Administrative, Judicial, Educational, 
Charitable and Penal Institutions. Of all these it is interesting 
to note that the amount spent for charitable and penal institu¬ 
tions is usually larger than that of any other department, con¬ 
siderably outdistancing the expenditures for education. 

47 


Legislative expenditures includes salaries of members of the 
Legislature, and the expense of printing necessary in connection 
with legislative work and clerical services. 

Executive expenditures are those connected with the salaries 
of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and expense of the Governor’s 
office. 

In the same way the Administrative Department and Judicial 
Department are largely those of salaries. 

Under education may be included the money spent for com¬ 
mon schools, normal and University. 

The charitable and penal expenditures are for the maintenance 
of the insane and dependent. 

The Revenues of the State Department —The chief source of 
the state income is taxation. The property tax is the most impor¬ 
tant of taxes as to the number of people reached through it, 
but not the largest in size. The corporation tax levied upon 
corporations is nearly three times that of the general property tax. 

The state funds are also increased by legacies or inheritance 
tax and by fees collected by state officers, and to a small extent 
by the sale of products made in the penal institutions. 

In 1912 the income tax became operative and bids fair to 
be an important source of income for the State of Wisconsin. 

Public Debts —The Constitution of the State of Wisconsin 
has provided definitely concerning the borrowing power of the 
state. The state may not indebt itself to aid any association, 
corporation or individual. It may not indebt itself to meet the 
current expenses of the government. For paying extraordinary 
expenditures it may go into debt to the extent of $100,000, which 
must be paid in five years. In case of invasion or defense of 
any kind the state may indebt itself to any extent. When a 
bill is to be passed creating a debt three-fifths of each house must 
be present to constitute a quorum. 

Political Parties 

Political parties are not recognized by the Constitution of 
the United States. They are extra legal organizations but have 
certain important functions to perform. It is through them 
that any group of persons has an opportunity to express its 

4.S 


opinion. The political parties are responsible for the nomination 
of candidates, no provision having been made for this by the 
constitution. Campaigns for electing candidates are conducted 
by political parties and it is their business after the election to 
control the policies of the executive and legislative departments. 

Political parties originated during the constitutional conven¬ 
tion in 1787. The group of men who favored a liberal inter¬ 
pretation of the Constitution, a strong central government, rule 
by leaders and that favored Great Britain were known as Fed¬ 
eralists. These men were located largely in New England and 
in the middle states and were the wealthy commercial and 
industrial classes. 

In opposition to the Federalist party was the Democratic- 
Republican party, supporting strict interpretation of the Consti¬ 
tution, rule by the common people, a loose central government 
and favoring France. These men came mostly from the planta¬ 
tion South, were agricultural in their interests and were of the 
poorer class in the North and on the frontier. 

Between 1820 and 1830 there was a period of reorganization 
of the parties. As an outgrowth of the Federalist came the 
National-Republican, later known as the Whigs. The leaders in 
this party were now Clay and Webster. Tariff had become a 
promient issue and the manufacturing interests represented in 
this party stood for protective tariff, internal improvements and 
the United States Bank. In the process of reorganization the 
Democratic-Republican party passed into the Democratic party, 
led by Andrew Jackson. This party was characterized by the 
things it opposed. It opposed the United States Bank, protective 
tariff and internal improvements. Its one positive attitude was 
its favoring of states’ rights. 

The period between 1852 to 1860 saw the reorganization of 
parties. A new great issue again faced the country, that of 
slavery. The Democratic party became the pro-slavery party, the 
Republican party in 1856 became the opponent of slavery. This 
party was composed of the abolition Whigs, the Free Soilers, 
and the anti-slavery Democrats. Since the close of the war 
many questions have agitated the political parties, the main polit¬ 
ical issues being tariff, the silver question, imperialism, control 
of the trusts and the conservation of natural resources. 


49 


Besides these two historic parties there have been numerous 
smaller, shorter-lived ones. Such were the Greenback, Populist 
and Socialist parties. 

The Organization of Political Parties —In carrying on their 
political work parties have organized a machine. At the top 
of this machine is the National Committee, composed of one 
representative from each state and territory. The National Com¬ 
mittee creates the Executive Committee and determines the place 
of meeting of the national convention held every four years. Each 
state has its central or executive committee, made up of members 
from each Congressional district. The state committees in turn 
decide upon the place of meeting of the state convention and 
carry on the state campaign. In the same way local committees 
handle the situation in cities. One of the most to be deplored 
characteristics of American political parties is the political boss, 
who should be sharply distinguished from real leaders of 
democracy. 

Suffrage 

The Constitution of the state provided that voters should be 
males, twenty-one years of age, citizens of the United States, 
residents of the state one year, persons of Indian blood once 
declared by Congress to be citizens of the United States and 
civilized Indians not members of any tribe. 

The Legislature has fixed the time of residence in an election 
district at ten days. 

To change the suffrage the Legislature may pass a law ex¬ 
tending the right. The law must be submitted to a vote of the 
people at a general election and be approved of by a majority 
of all votes cast at such election. 

Women have been empowered to vote on all matters per¬ 
taining to schools. 

The State Legislature in February, 1919, passed a law 
enabling women to vote for Presidential Electors. 

Process of Election 

The first step in an election is the nomination of candidates. 
Candidates are nominated for the general elections on the first 


50 


Tuesday of September in the even numbered years. A petition 
containing a certain number of names must be filed with the proper 
officials by each candidate thirty days before the primary. Cer¬ 
tain officials are not nominated at the primaries; for example, 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, county superintend¬ 
ents of schools, town and village school officers and judicial of¬ 
ficers. 

The actual process of election consists, first, in posting 
notices issued by the Secretary of State. These are posted by 
the town and village clerks and the notices state when the 
election is to be held and its purpose. In all communities of 
more than five thousand inhabitants registration of the voters is 
required. The inspectors act as registration officials. 

Lists of those who have registered are posted, and if a person 
has been unable to register he is privileged to swear in his vote 
on election day. 

Official ballots are now prepared by the County Clerk. These 
ballots contain the names of all persons certified as having won 
at the primaries and all persons who have filed nomination papers. 

At each voting booth there are present certain officials; three 
inspectors, two clerks of election, and two ballot clerks. The 
person wishing to vote must first have his name found on the 
registration list. He then receives a ballot, marks the ballot, 
gives the name to the election clerk, and deposits his ballot. Two 
representatives of each political party are permitted at the polls 
and it is their privilege to challenge any vote. When a vote 
is challenged the person so challenged is required to answer 
certain questions under oath, and if satisfactory may be permitted 
to vote. 

The final process in the election is that of canvassing the vote. 
First, the ballots are counted and checked up with the number who 
have voted, according to the registration list. The ballots are 
then counted by candidates. 

A statement of the result is filed with the town, village or 
city clerk, and a copy is sent to the County Clerk. The County 
Board of Canvassers, composed of the County Clerk and usually 
two other county officers, in turn canvasses the vote and the 
County Clerk issues certificates of election to local officers. The 
results are now sent to the Secretary of State and canvassed by 

51 


the state board, composed of the Secretary of State, the State 
Treasurer, and the Attorney General, and certificates of election 
for state officers are issued by the Secretary of State. 

Amendment of the State Constitution 

An amendment to the constitution may be proposed in either 
house of the legislature and if it is approved by a majority of 
each house, it is entered on the journal with the yeas and nays 
and referred to the legislature elected at the next general election. 

Three months before such election it shall be published and 
if agreed to by both newly elected houses it shall be submitted by 
the legislature to the people. If it is approved by a majority of 
the electors it becomes a part of the constitution. 

A convention to revise or change the constitution may be 
called if the legislature recommends the electors to vote for or 
against a convention at the next election. If approved by the 
voters, the legislature provides for calling such a convention. 

Summary of Wisconsin Laws and Orders Pursuant Thereto 
Concerning Women and Children. 


Women 

Manufactories and Laundries 

1. Night Work: In manufactories and laundries only day 
work is permitted. Women may not be employed before 6 A. M. 
or after 6 P. M. 

2. Limitation upon Day Work: Women may be employed at 
day work not to exceed ten hours in any day and not to exceed 
fifty-five hours in any week, exclusive of meal periods. 

3. Meal Period: One hour at least must be allowed for din¬ 
ner except in Milwaukee manufactories that provide a lunch room 
adequately equipped. The lunch period may be forty-five min¬ 
utes. 

Mechanical or Mercantile Establishments, Restaurants, Confec¬ 
tionery Stores, Telegraph or Telephone Offices or Ex¬ 
changes, Express or Transportation Establishments. 

1. Day Work: Hours are limited to ten in any day, fifty-five 
in any week, between 6 A. M. and 6:30 P. M. 


52 


2. Night Work: No woman may be employed at night work 
more than eight hours in any night or more than forty-eight in a 
week, exclusive of meal periods. 

3. Part Day and Part Night Work: If women are employed 
before 6 A. M. or after 6:30 P. M. more than one night a week, 
the limitations for day work apply. 

Prohibited Employments 

The employment of women in or about any mine or quarry is 
prohibited in Wisconsin. The Industrial Commission has asked 
that women shall not be employed in “pickling rooms” in the 
shops of the metal trades. 

Chairs 

Every person or corporation employing females in any manu¬ 
facturing or mercantile establishment shall provide suitable seats 
and shall permit the use of such seats by them when they are not 
necessarily engaged in the active duties for which they are em¬ 
ployed. 

Safety and Sanitation 

All regulations for safety and sanitation required for men 
are required for women. These regulations are embodied in the 
General Orders on Safety and the Sanitation Code which may be 
obtained from the Industrial Commission. 

Minimum Wage 

1. No employer shall employ any experienced female or 
minor employe over seventeen years of age, in any occupation, 
trade, or industry at a wage rate of less than twenty-two cents 
per hour. 

2. During the first three months of the learning period, the 
wage paid shall not be less than eighteen cents per hour. During 
the second three months of the learning period the wage shall not 
be less than twenty cents per hour. 

3. Permit children shall be paid a wage of not less than 
eighteen cents per hour. Permit children between sixteen and 
seventeen years of age, who have completed three months in the 
industry, shall be paid not less than twenty cents per hour. Per- 

53 


mit children producing the same output as employes in a higher 
wage classification shall be paid not less than the minimum wage 
rate for such class. 

4. Employes shall be deemed experienced after six months 
of employment in the trade or industry. In seasonal industries, 
operating only for a few months during the year, no learning 
period is recognized and all females and minor employes shall be 
paid a wage of not less than twenty-two cents per hour. 

5. The total number of employes in any establishment who 
receive wages below twenty-two cents per hour, but not including 
indentured apprentices, shall not exceed 25% of the total number 
of women and minor employes normally employed. 

6. Where board or lodging is provided by the employer as 
part payment of wages, an allowance may be made therefor of 
not more than $4.50 per week for board and $2.00 per week for 
lodging. 

7. Where payment of wages is made upon a price basis or 
system other than time rate, the actual wage shall not be less than 
that provided for in this order. 

Child Labor 

No child between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years, 
unless indentured as an apprentice, shall be employed, required, 
suffered, or permitted to work at any time in any factory, or 
workshop, store, hotel, restaurant, bakery, mercantile establish¬ 
ment, laundry, telegraph, telephone, or public messenger service, 
or the delivery of any merchandise, or at any gainful occupation 
or employment, directly or indirectly, or, in cities where a voca¬ 
tional school is maintained, in domestic science other than casual 
employment in such service, unless there is first obtained from 
the Industrial Commission, or, from a judge of a county, mu¬ 
nicipal or juvenile court, or from some other person designated 
by said commission a written permit. 

Prohibited Employments 

1. Minors under twenty-one years of age may not be em¬ 
ployed as messengers for a telegraph or messenger company in 
distributing or delivering messages or goods before six o’clock in 


54 


llie morning and after eight o’clock in the evening of any day in 
cities of the first, second, or third class. 

2. Minors under eighteen years of age may not be employed 
about blast furnaces; as pilot, fireman engineer on boats; in or 
about docks; operating machines causing dusts as emery polish¬ 
ing ; erection or repair of electric wires; running elevators; in 
establishments making or storing explosives; making matches: 
about mines or quarries; oiling dangerous machinery in motion; 
about wharves; or at most occupations connected with the rail¬ 
road. 

3. The occupations prohibited to children under sixteen years 
of age are numerous and can be secured from the Industrial Com¬ 
mission. 

4. It is unlawful to employ children under twelve years of 
age at any time. 

5. A child between twelve and fourteen may be employed 
during the vacations of school provided the employer has on file 
a labor permit authorizing such employment and als.o provided the 
employment is limited to a store, office, mercantile establishment, 
warehouse, telegraph, telephone or public messenger service. 

6. No child under sixteen shall be employed at any occupa¬ 
tion other than that of domestic service or farm work for more 
than forty-eight hours in any week nor more than eight hours in 
any one day, or before the hour of seven in the morning or after 
six in the evening. A dinner period of not less than thirty min¬ 
utes shall be allowed. 

7. All children between the ages of fourteen and seventeen 
working under permit in any town, village, or city, in which a vo¬ 
cational school has been established, must attend such school in 
the daytime for not less than eight hours a week, at least eight 
months in each year. 

8. To secure a permit, proof of age must be presented, con¬ 
sisting either of a birth certificate, a record of baptism, a bona 
fide contemporary record or a certificate signed by a public health 
l)hysician or a public school physician, specifying in his opinion 
the physical age of the child. 


55 


BIBLIOGRAPHY STATE GOVERNMENT 


State Government in the United States.A. N. Holcombe 

American Legislatures and Legislative Methods... P. S. Reinsch 

^ Readings on American State Government.P. S. Reinsch 

The Revision and Amendment of State Constitutions. W. F. Dodd 

The American Commonwealth. .J. Bryce 

The Australian Ballot.J. H. Wigmore 

Proportional Representation.J. R. Commons 

The Wisconsin Idea.Chas. McCarthy 

Nominating Systems.E. Meyer 

Government by All the People.D. F. Wilcox 

The Operation of the Initiative, Referendum and Recall in 

Oregon.. . . .J. D. Barnett 

Cyclopedia of American Governm^ .i:.A. C. McLaughlin and 

A. B. Hart 

Democracy and the Party System f the United States. 

. M. Ostrogorski 

Initiative, Referendum and Recall. .. . . .Edited m W. B. Munro 

Wisconsin Blue Book.•. ... 

Reports of Various State Commissions. . 


56 















CHAPTER VI. 


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

Congress of the United States 

The legislative power of the federal government is vested in 
Congress composed of two houses—the Senate and the House of 
Repiesentatives. 

The House of Representatives is at present composed of four 
hundred and thirty-five members, chosen on the basis of popula¬ 
tion from the several states "^pr a term of two years. A member 
of the House of Representatives must be at least twenty-five 
years of age, been seven,ye'^^ 's a citizen of the United States and 
an inhabitant of the state from which he is elected, and must 
not hold ny f >deral offi -e. 

The quahxi^ations of those who shall have the right to vote 
for members c" Congress are left to the several states to decide 
upon. ^ 

After each census is taken the House decides on the number 
of its members. The whole population is divided by this num¬ 
ber, giving thus the basis of representation. Each state must 
have one representative even if its population is belo''^ the ratio. 

The presiding officer in the House is the Speaker, elected from 
its members. The Speaker has the right to vote on all questions. 
The former power of the Speaker to appoint committees was 
taken from him in 1911. The House now elects its committees. 

There are fifty-eight committees in the House. Some of the 
i^ost important are those on Appropriations, Interstate and For¬ 
eign Commerce, Ways and Means, Judiciary and Military Af¬ 
fairs. 

Procedure in Congress —A bill may be introduced in the 
House of Representatives by any member of the Flouse. It is 
given to the reading clerk and referred by the speaker of the 
house to a committee. The greater part of the work of the na¬ 
tional congress is done in the committees. , 


57 


A committee has the power to amend a bill, approve of some 
parts, recommend favorably or adversely, or make no report at 
all. When a bill is sent back by the committee it is again read by 
title and debated. If voted upon favorably it is sent to the senate 
where a similar proceeding is followed. If the bill passes the 
senate it goes to the president for his signature or veto. If the 
president retains the bill for more than ten days it becomes a law 
without his signature. If he vetoes the bill it is sent back to the 
house in which it originated. It is reconsidered and if passed by 
that house by a two-thirds vote is sent to the other house, and if 
passed by that by a two-thirds vote it becomes a law without the 
president’s signature. It is at this point that we touch upon the 
legislative power of the president in that he has the right to sign 
or veto bills. 

The Senate is composed of two senators from each state, 
elected at large for a term of six years. A senator is at least 
thirty years of age and has been a citizen of the United States 
nine years. The Senate is presided over by the vice-president of 
the United States, who has no vote unless there is a tie. By the 
Seventh Amendment it was provided that the senators be chosen 
directly by the voters of the states. 

The Senate does a large part of its work through committees, 
of which there are more than sixty. The more important being 
the committees on Appropriations, Finance, Judiciary, Foreign 
Relations and Interstate Commerce. 

The committees of the Senate are decided on at the beginning 
of each Congress. Each party chooses a special committee on 
committees which makes up a list of assignments which is usually 
approved of by the Senate, the dominant party having a majority 
on each committee. 

No senator may be arrested on a civil process while in at¬ 
tendance at a session, neither is he subject to libel laws for any¬ 
thing said in Congress. 

The Senate is more than a legislative body. It has in addi¬ 
tion both executive and judicial functions. It has been given the 
power to confirm the appointments of the president. The presi¬ 
dent nominates a person, the name comes before the Senate, is 
referred to an appropriate committee, the Judicial committee if 

58 


it is a judge. The committee reports back to the Senate, which 
usually passes favorably on the report of a committee. 

The Senate has a second executive function, that of approv¬ 
ing of treaties that have been negotiated by the president. 

The Senate tries all impeachments. This is a judicial power. 
The president, vice-president, ambassadors, members of the cabi¬ 
net, judges of the federal courts and postmasters may be im¬ 
peached. Punishment extends only to removal from office and 
disqualifications to hold any other federal position. 

In all other matters, except to originate bills raising revenues 
which belongs to the House, the Senate and House of Represen¬ 
tatives have equal powers. By custom bills for spending money 
usually originate in the House also. 

Powers of Congress —Congress has only such powers as are 
given to it. Its powers are delegated. State Legislatures have 
all powers that have not been taken away from them. 

The expressed powers of Congress are clear. The implied 
powers have aroused discussion. If Congress has the power to 
establish certain things, it has the implied power to pass the legis¬ 
lation necessary to do so. 

Most functions of Congress are permissive and may be exer¬ 
cised or not, but other powers are clearly mandatory. 

Financial Powers —Congress has been given the power to levy 
and collect taxes, duties and excises for certain purposes; to pay 
the debts, provide for the common defense, and promote the gen¬ 
eral welfare of the country. The power to raise money has been 
placed, as it should be, in a democracy, in the hands of the repre¬ 
sentative legislative body of the nation. 

Prof. Munro has defined a tax as “A burden or charge im¬ 
posed by a legislative authority upon persons or property to raise 
money for public purposes.’^ 

As to the classes of taxes, they are—taxes on property, real 
and personal; taxes on incomes; duties on imports; excises on 
liquor, tobacco, etc.; taxes on the excess profits of industry and 
commerce; inheritance taxes and poll taxes. 

Taxes may be divided into direct and indirect. Property tax 
and poll tax are examples of direct taxes. Under the head of 
indirect taxes would be found duties and excises. A duty is a 


59 


tax laid upon the importation of goods. It may be laid for one 
of two purposes—either for revenue only or as a protective tariff 
to bar out foreign goods from competition with home industries. 

Duties may be laid in two ways—either as specific duties cal¬ 
culated upon the quantity of the import, or ad valorem calculated 
on the value of the import. 

Excises, on the other hand, are laid upon the manufacture and 
sale of certain types of goods in this country, usually including 
luxuries, imitations or harmful materials such as tobacco, oleo¬ 
margarine, cosmetics and cocaine. 

The national revenue is collected under the direction of the 
secretary of the Treasury. The Customs Service has charge of 
the collection of duties and has divided the country into fifty cus¬ 
toms districts. 

The Internal Revenue Service collects the internal revenue 
through collectors located in the sixty-five districts of the country. 

The money of the Federal government is cared for in the 
treasury at Washington and the nine sub-treasuries, located in 
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, New Or¬ 
leans, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco. 

The expenditure of the country’s money is also placed in the 
hands of congress. All bills for the raising of money must orig¬ 
inate in the House of Representatives. 

The borrowing of money is a function of the national legisla¬ 
ture. Money is usually borrowed through the sale of bonds. 
Bonds may be of two types—registered and coupon. The first 
is registered in the Treasury Department and the interest is paid 
from Washington, and it can be transferred only by endorsement. 
The coupon bonds may be transferred by mere delivery and no 
record is kept of them at Washington. 

Although the Constitution of the United States says nothing 
as to the national government establishing National banks, by acts 
of Congress a national banking system has been established. 

The Banking Act of 1863, with later statutes, has put a heavy 
tax on notes circulated by state banks for the purpose of forcing 
this form of currency out. National banks have grown out of 
the power of Congress “to borrow money.” 

The supervision of the National banks is in the hands of the 
Comptroller of Currency, who is in the Treasutry department. 


60 


The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 provided for twelve fed¬ 
eral reserve districts with a federal reserve bank for each district. 
Banks in each district subscribe to the capital stock of the Fed¬ 
eral Reserve Bank of that district and the government may make 
up the necessary amount. The bank is directed by a board elected 
by the contributing banks and the Federal Reserve Board. These 
banks serve to equalize the money supply. 

Finally, Congress has been given Ihe right to coin money. 
This is always considered a sovereign power. The money system 
of the United States is made up of paper and metal money and 
since 1873 the United States has had a system of monometallism. 

Commercial Powers —Congress has been given the power to 
regulate commerce with foreign nations and between the various 
states. In regulating foreign commerce Congress has passed pro¬ 
tective laws providing for light houses, buoys and life saving sta¬ 
tions ; navigation laws providing for the entering and clearing of 
ports; laws regulating the coastwise trade, and immigration laws 
designating persons who may and may not enter this country. 
The persons barred from entering are anarchists, polygamists, 
contract labor, persons afflicted with incurable diseases, paupers 
and criminals. A literacy test has also been provided by law. 

The imposing of tariffs, while having a financial side, has 
also much to do with regulating foreign commerce. Tariff meas¬ 
ures are formed by the Ways and Means Committee of the 
House of Representatives. 

A Tariff Commission has been provided for. Its work is to 
investigate the needs of the country on the tariff question. 

The administration of many of the laws affecting interstate 
commerce have been placed in the hands of various commissions. 

The Act of 1887, regulating common carriers, is carried out 
by the Interstate Commerce Commission of nine members. 

This Act provides for just and reasonable charges by the 
common carriers; pooling agreements are prohibited; discrimina¬ 
tions and rebates are forbidden; all rates must be published and 
posted; railroads are not permitted to engage in other lines of 
business; there must be a uniform system of accounting, and 
they must make regular reports to the Interstate Commerce Com¬ 
mission. 


61 


In 1914 the Federal Trade Commission was established. Its 
work is to prevent unfair competition by manufacturers or any 
other concerns, both in interstate and foreign commerce, and to 
investigate the facts in any case charging a combination with 
being illegal. 

Military Powers —It is the right of Congress to declare war, 
raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, and to 
make all the rules governing these. 

Other Powers —The other powers granted to Congress are 
numerous and include granting patents and copyrights, naturali¬ 
zation, making laws on bankruptcy and the establishing of post 
roads. 

Sessions of Congress —There are two regular sessions of each 
Congress. The first begins in December of the odd numbered 
years, lasts usually until the following midsummer, but must 
close by the first Monday in December. This is the long session. 

The second or short session begins in December of the even 
numbered years and ends March 4th of the following year, when 
a new Congress begins. 

Executive Department 

The Executive power of the Federal government is vested in 
a president and vice-president, who are chosen for a term of 
four years. 

Qualifications of the President —The president of the United 
States must be thirty-five years of age, a natural born citizen of 
the United States, and a resident of the United States for four¬ 
teen years preceding his election. In case of his death he is fol¬ 
lowed by the vice-president. If the office is also vacated by the 
death of the vice-president, the members of the cabinet, beginning 
with the Secretary of State, would hold office in a certain definite 
arranged order. The process of electing the president outlined 
in the original constitution has been amended, as it was found to 
be a clumsy and ineffective method. 

Nomination of the President —Delegates to the national con¬ 
vention of each political party are elected at the spring primaries 


62 


FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 



63 


























































































































































































































on a general ticket by a direct vote. Each state is entitled to 
twice as many members in each convention as it has senators 
and representatives combined. An equal number of alternates is 
usually chosen. 

These delegates meet at the national conventions of the po¬ 
litical parties, held usually in June or July of the year in which 
the president is to be elected. In the Republican convention a 
plurality of the number of the delegates is required in nominat¬ 
ing the president. In the Democratic convention two-thirds of 
the delegates must vote in favor of the candidates. 

Election of the President —Each state is entitled to a number 
of electors equal to the whole number of senators and representa¬ 
tives from that state. The presidential electors are nominated at 
the fall primaries and voted on at the general election the first 
Tuesday after the first Monday in November. These electors make 
up what is known as the electoral college. They meet at the capitol 
of their respective states on the second Monday in January. 
Here they cast their ballots for president and vice-president. A 
record of the votes is made and a sealed copy is sent by messen¬ 
ger to the president of the senate. A second copy is sent by mail 
and a third copy is kept at the capitol of the state. 

On the second Wednesday of February these votes are opened 
by the president of the senate in the presence of the House of 
Representatives. 

The person having the majority of all votes cast for president 
is declared president, and the person having the majority of votes 
cast for vice-president is declared vice-president. In case no 
person has such a majority the election of the president goes to 
the House of Representatives. When an election is held in the 
House the vote is taken by states, the representation from each 
state counting as one vote. A quorum for this purpose shall con¬ 
sist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and 
a majority from all the states is necessary for an election. 

If a vice-president is not elected by the electors, the election 
goes to the senate, and in case the House of Representatives fails 
to elect a president before noon on the fourth of March, the man 
elected as vice-president becomes president, as in the case of the 
death or impeachment of a president. 


64 


Powers and Duties, of the President —The president of the 
United States has certain well defined duties. 

He is first of all commander of the army and navy of the 
United States and also of the militia of the several states when¬ 
ever called to participate in the active service of the United 
States. 

He may require the opinions in writing of the heads of the 
various executive departments. 

He has the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses 
against the United States, except in case of impeachment. 

The treaty making power lies in the hands of the president, 
who, with the advice and consent of two-third of the senate, 
makes all treaties. 

One of his greatest powers is that of appointment. With the 
consent of the senate he names all ambassadors, members of the 
cabinet, other public ministers and consuls, all judges and court 
officials, members of the federal commissions, postmasters in the 
larger communities and revenue collection officers. 

He has a considerable influence over legislation, in that he 
communicates to congress at its opening, facts concerning the 
condition of the country, with recommendations concerning legis¬ 
lation and has the power to sign and veto bills. 

On extraordinary occasions the president may call Congress 
together and may adjourn it if Congress is unable to decide on a 
time for adjournment. 

He receives all ambassadors and other public ministers and 
discharges the great duty of seeing that the laws are faithfully 
executed, and commissions the officials of the United States. 

While the Constitution does not give the president the power 
to remove from office, he exercises this power, and except in 
cases of judges and civil service employes, he may remove offi¬ 
cials. 

Civil Service —Civil service is a term which includes all offices 
in the executive department of the nation, state, county and city 
and excludes all legislative, judicial, military and naval offices. 
In the early history of the United States, Andrew Jackson ex¬ 
tended the policy of “to the victor belongs the spoils.” He looked 
upon public office as a means by which one might repay those 

65 


who had assisted him to secure office. In other words, the ap¬ 
pointing of friends, no matter how incompetent, to fill the posi¬ 
tion, was looked upon as the spoils of office. 

This continued without much interruption up to the early 
eighties. At that time President Garfield was assassinated by a 
man who claimed that he had been promised office and failed to 
receive it, after assisting in the campaign that elected Garfield. 

This aroused the country to the fact that civil service had, 
perhaps, in this country reached a lower level than in any other 
country in the world. The demand was made that the old spoils 
system should give place to a new merit system. Under the 
merit system appointment to office is made on the basis of com¬ 
petitive examinations and promotions are made on the basis of 
promotional examinations. 

Men are not removed from office as a political party passes 
in or out of control, but continue unless a grave charge, on which 
they have been given an impartial hearing, proves that they are 
incompetent. The merit system has now spread until not only 
large numbers of federal and state, tut county and city offices as 
well, are filled on the basis of competency to do the work. The 
principle is, “The best shall serve the nation.” The United States 
Civil Service Commission has charge of the examinations for 
entrance into the classified service of the federal government. 

Cabinet —There is no constitutional provision made for the 
Cabinet. The only reference that might be interpreted as sug¬ 
gesting executive departments is in the clause that gives the presi¬ 
dent the right to call for reports from the heads of executive de¬ 
partments. The Cabinet of the United States differs greatly 
from that of England. In the United States the Cabinet is purely 
an administrative group, a part of the executive department. Its 
members have no place in Congress, as have the members of the 
English Cabinet, who are members of the English Parliament. 
The American Cabinet is not permitted to attempt personally to 
influence legislation. 

The heads of the departments are appointed by the president 
and approved by the senate. The Cabinet consults as a body with 
the president. As individuals each administers a department ac¬ 
cording to laws made by Congress. Their responsibility is directly 
to the president. 


66 


Department of State —One of the most important departments 
of the Cabinet is the Department of State. At the head of the 
Deparment of State is the Secretary of State. It is his duty to 
receive all representatives of foreign nations and present them 
to the president. 

He carries on all correspondence with representatives in other 
countries and conducts the negotiations in making treaties. 
Through him the president communicates with the executives of 
the states. He has the keeping of the correct copy of all laws and 
the great seal, and publishes the laws and resolutions of Congress. 
Under this department are the diplomatic service and the consu¬ 
lar service. 

Treasury Department —^At the head of the Department of the 
Treasury is the Secretary of the Treasury. He has charge of the 
finances of the nation. It is his business to prepare plans for the 
improvement and creation of revenue. Congress may carry out 
his recommendations or not, as it sees fit. He has charge of the 
collection of these revenues. His signature is necessary on all 
orders for the payment of money. In this department the direct 
handling of the United States money is in the care of the Treas¬ 
urer. He has charge of the independent treasury system. 

The important bureaus of this department are the Bureau of 
Engraving and Printing, the Secret Service, the Life Saving 
Service, the Supervising Surgeon General, and the Supervising 
Architect. The Bureau of Engraving prints all the United States 
notes, revenue stamps, and postage stamps. 

The work of the Treasury Department has been well classified 
by Prof. Munro: First, the collection of revenue, supervising 
the work of the customs collectors and internal revenue collec¬ 
tors ; Second, the care of the public funds, placing it in the sub¬ 
treasuries, national or state banks; Third, control of the cur¬ 
rency, with supervision of the mints; Last, the many miscella¬ 
neous services grouped in this department. 

The Department of War —The head of this department is the 
Secretary of War. It is his business to supervise all estimates 
for appropriations for this department. He has charge of all 
military affairs, the oversight of river and harbor improvements. 
The important officers in this department are the Commissary 

67 


General, whose principal work is to take charge of the food sup¬ 
ply of the army; the Chief of Ordnance, who looks after the 
supply of arms and their manufacture in the United States 
arsenals; the corps of Engineers, the duties of which are to con¬ 
struct fortifications, light houses, and carry out the work of im¬ 
provement of harbors and rivers; and the chief signal officers. 
This department has charge of the military academy at West 
Point. 

The Department of the Navy —The Department of the Navy • 
is in charge of the Secretary of the Navy, who attends to con¬ 
structing, arming and equipping all war vessels and decides on 
the way in which they shall be employed. This department has 
charge of the naval academy of Annapolis. 

The Department of Justice —The Attorney General is at the 
head of the Department of Justice. He is the legal advisor of 
the president and gives legal opinions to the heads of all depart¬ 
ments. He is also in charge of the United States District Attor¬ 
neys and represents the United States in all legal proceedings in 
which the United States is a party. 

The Postoffice Department —The Post Office Department is 
in the hands of the Postmaster General. There are four bureaus 
in the department in charge of Assistant Postmasters. The Post¬ 
master General himself appoints Postmasters whose salaries are 
over $1,000 annually, and, with the consent of the president, 
makes postal contracts and treaties with foreign nations. The 
First Assistant Postmaster has charge of the appointment of 
minor postmasters, general charge of the postoffice, with its col¬ 
lection clerks and carriers. 

The Second Assistant has the supervision of the transporta¬ 
tion of the mails. 

The Third Assistant provides stamps and in general looks 
after the finances of the Postofhce Department. 

Finally, the Fourth Assistant supervises the rural delivery 
and the dead letter office. 

The Department of the Interior —Is in the hands of the Sec¬ 
retary of the Interior. This department is made up of divisions 
and bureaus having little relation to each other. 


68 


First of all is the Commissioner of Public Lands, who has 
charge of all the public lands of the government. 

The Commissioner of Education has been placed in this 
department, as well as the Commissioner of Pensions, the Com¬ 
missioner of Indian Affairs and the Director of Geological 
Survey. 

The Department of Agriculture —This department, which is 
of the greatest value to the farmers of the country, maintains a 
bureau of Animal Industry, which inspects the meat products 
exported to foreign countries. A great deal of work has also 
been done by this bureau in studying diseases of animals. The 
Division of Plant Physiology investigates diseases and insects 
that affect plants and trees. The Bureau of Forestry and Chem¬ 
istry are important parts of the department. Perhaps the most 
important bureau in the whole department is the Weather Bureau. 
The warnings sent to farmers of the approach of frost or serious 
storms and the warnings to shippers of perishable goods have 
saved many thousands of dollars in property and many lives. 

The Department of Commerce —The Department of Com¬ 
merce, one of the latest to be created, has many bureaus. The 
Bureau of Manufactories, the aim of which is the developing 
of industries at home and opening up markets for American 
products abroad, is one of the most important. In this depart¬ 
ment has been placed a large number of bureaus which will no 
doubt in time become separate departments. Among these are 
the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Standards of Weights and 
Measures, the Bureau of Navigation, the Steamship Inspection 
Service, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Light House Board, 
and the Bureau of Statistics. 

Department of Labor —The last department to be created is 
the Department of Labor. There are three important bureaus 
grouped under this department. First, the Bureau of Immigra¬ 
tion, which has charge of all matters concerning the incoming 
immigrant; the Bureau of Naturalization, the business of which 
is to provide for the acquiring of citizenship by the foreign born; 
and the Children’s Bureau, established in 1913. This latter 
bureau is collecting valuable vital statistics concerning children 

59 


and doing educational work in placing before the public material 
of an instructive character in child welfare. 

Impeachment 

Civil officers may be impeached for any conduct considered 
such that it should bar them from office, but punishment in case 
of impeachment cannot extend further than removal from office 
and disqualification to hold any federal office. The usual charges 
in case of impeachment are treason, bribery, or any other high 
crime or misdemeanor. The House of Representatives has the 
sole power of impeachment and the Senate has the power to try 
for impeachment. These are the distinctly Judicial powers of 
Congress. 

When the President of the United States is to be tried the 
Chief Justice of the United States presides and a two-thirds 
vote of the members present is necessary to convict. 

Federal Judiciary 

The Judicial power of the United States is vested in a 
Supreme Court, which is created by the Federal Constitution, 
and certain inferior courts that are created by act of Congress. 
As organized by law of Congress, the Supreme Court consists 
of a Supreme Justice and eight Associate Justices, that meet in 
Washington. 

There are nine Circuit Courts of Appeals established by Con¬ 
gress. Each Circuit Court of Appeals is made up of three judges, 
any two of whom may do business. The Circuit Judge, a District 
Judge of the Circuit, and a Supreme Court Judge assigned to 
the circuit are the three judges that make up the Circuit Court 
of Appeal. The Supreme Court Judges, in fact, seldom or never 
go to the circuits. 

The United States has been divided into eighty-one districts 
for District Courts. Some districts have more than one judge, the 
usual number is one for each district. In the District Court 
there is a United States Attorney and a United States Marshal. 

The Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts —The cases coming 
into the Federal Courts may be divided into two classes: First, 
in reference to the law involved, and second, in reference to the 


70 


parties concerned. A case involving the Constitution, the federal 
law or a treaty goes into a Federal Court. The parties that 
bring a case into the Federal Court are ambassadors and other 
public ministers, controversies in which the United States is a 
party, maritime and admiralty cases, cases in which two states 
are concerned, between citizens of the same state claiming lands 
under grants of different states, between citizens of different 
states and between foreign and American citizens. The Eleventh 
Amendment permits a state to be tried in the Federal Courts 
only by another state or by the United States. 

The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in all cases in 
which a state or an ambassador or other public minister is a 
party and appellate jurisdiction over cases brought to it by a 
state or inferior Federal Court. Not all state cases can be 
appealed to the Supreme Court, only those in which some ques¬ 
tion concerning the statutes, treaties or Constitution of the United 
States is involved. All appeals that are granted from a state 
to a Federal Court go at once to the Supreme Court. 

The United States Supreme Court may decide on the consti¬ 
tutionality of laws nullifying those state and federal laws that 
it considers not in accord with the United States Constitution. 

The Circuit Courts of Appeals have final jurisdiction in cer¬ 
tain cases brought to it by appeal from District Courts as cases 
arising under criminal, patent and revenue law. 

The District Courts have jurisdiction over criminal and 
admiralty cases, suits for penalties and bankruptcy proceedings, 
patent and copyright cases, and civil cases where the amount 
involved is at least $2,000. 

The District Court is the only Federal Court in which a jury 
is used. In every district there is a United States District 
Attorney and a United States Marshal, both appointed by the 
President and approved by the Senate. 

The Court of Claims hears cases involving claims against the 
Federal Government except in case of pension claims. It is 
composed of a Chief Justice and four Associates and holds its 
annual session at Washington. 

The Court of Customs Appeals handles all final appeals in 
cases involving disputes over the administration of the tariff laws. 

71 


CHAPTER VII. 


CITIZENSHIP 


Citizenship 

The population of a community may be composed of citizens 
and aliens. A citizen is one who owes allegiance to the country 
in which he resides and is assured protection both at home and 
abroad. An alien is one who does not owe allegiance to the 
country in which he resides, is assured protection in the land 
of his residence, but is not assured protection abroad. 

There are several ways in which one may become a citizen 
of a country: First, by birth; second, a foreign woman may 
marry an American citizen; third, by annexation or purchase of 
territory; and finally, through the process of naturalization. 

The first step in naturalization consists in making a declara¬ 
tion of intention, or securing first papers. This may be done 
at any time after arrival in this country by a person over eighteen 
years of age. The applicant secures a blank form from the 
clerk of either a United States District Court or a State Court 
of Record. He fills this out stating his intention of residing 
in the United States, renounces his allegiance to the country 
from which he has come, gives certain information concerning 
his birth place, present residence, last foreign residence, age, race, 
date of arrival, steamship on which he came, port of entry, 
and states that he is not an anarchist or polygamist. 

He takes this blank to the clerk after it is filled out. The 
clerk uses this information to fill out the formal blank called 
the declaration of intention. An oath is taken as to the truth 
of the statements and the clerk signs, attests it and gives it to 
the applicant. A fee of $1.00 is paid. 

Not less than two years or more than seven years may elapse 
between taking of the first and second papers and before the 
second papers can be secured there must be a continuous resi¬ 
dence in the United States of five years, and one year in the 
state in which the papers are to be taken out. 


To secure the second papers the applicant again goes to 
court and secures a form called “Facts for Petition for Natural¬ 
ization.” In addition to the facts given on the former paper he 
must state the time and place of securing his first papers, if 
married the name of his wife and the country where she was 
horn and where she is living when he filed the petition, the names 
of his children with date and place of birth and where living 
when the petition is filed, he must state that he is not a disbeliever 
in organized government or a member of a body that teaches 
^uch disbelief and that he is not a polygamist. 

He states that he renounces all allegiance to any foreign state 
or potentate. This petition is taken to the clerk, who fills out 
the formal petition. An oath is taken as to the truth of the 
statements and the applicant signs his name. 

The petition must be accompanied by the applicant’s certifi¬ 
cate of declaration of intention and a certificate of arrival ob¬ 
tained from the Bureau of Immigration. The petition must be 
accompanied by the affidavits of two witnesses who take oath 
that they personally know that the applicant has lived in the 
United States for five years immediately preceding his applica¬ 
tion and in the state the last year, that he is of good character 
and qualified to be a citizen. 

A fee of $4.00 is paid. The clerk files the petition, posts a 
notice of the application in his office or in the building in which 
he is located, and sends a copy of the petition to Washington 
to the Bureau of Naturalization. .. 

During the following ninety days the examiners attached to 
the Bureau of Naturalization make a careful examination of all 
statements made by the applicant and his witnesses. 

The final hearing is in court. The applicant and his witnesses 
must be examined before the court. At this time the judge 
examines the applicant in English as to the truth of the state¬ 
ments, his knowledge of the forms of government and the prin¬ 
ciples of our Constitution, with questions as to federal, state, and 
city officials. 

If the judge believes the applicant qualified he administers 
the oath of allegiance. 

After the judge signs the order of admission a certificate of 
naturalization is issued by the clerk of the court. 

73 


Duties and Responsibilities of Citizens 

A great deal of emphasis has been laid on the subject of the 
rights of citizens. Political history is largely a record of struggles 
for certain rights. There is another side that should receive 
equal attention with that of rights—it is duties and responsibilities. 

One of the first duties of the citizen is to pay his taxes. 
Perhaps there is no place in which the expenditure of a dollar 
secures so great advantage as the dollar spent in taxes. Educa¬ 
tion, health protection, roads, police are all provided through 
taxes. 

A second duty of a citizen is to perform military service 
when his country is endangered. 

A third is to exercise his right to vote. 

Fourth, jury duty is an important part of a citizen’s work. 
While certain classes are exempt from this duty it should not 
be avoided by those who are competent to serve. 

Finally, an important part of a citizen’s duty is to hold office. 

Process of Amending the Federal Constitution 

Serious objection to the Constitution was raised at the time 
it was drawn up on the ground that it contained no Bill of 
Rights patterned after the English Bill of Rights. Those in 
favor of the Constitution pointed out that it had been made easy 
to amend the Constitution. Following this suggestion, immedi¬ 
ately after the adoption of the Constitution, ten amendments were 
drawn up, sometimes known as the American Bill of Rights. 

To amend the Constitution there are two ways that an amend¬ 
ment may be proposed and two ways that it may be ratified. 
In the first case, the Legislatures of two-thirds of the states 
may call for a constitutional convention for amending the Con¬ 
stitution. Under those conditions Congress provides for the 
calling of such a national convention. By the second method, 
an amendment may be introduced in either house of Congress, 
and if two-thirds of both houses agree the amendment is pro¬ 
posed. In ratifying the amendment it is necessary that three- 
fourths of all the State Legislatures should ratify it or that 
conventions called in three-fourths of the states should ratify. 

Eighteen amendments to the Constitution have been proposed 
and ratified, and a nineteenth has been proposed. 

74 


BIBLIOGRAPHY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 


The Government of the United States.W. B. Mimro 

I Constitutional Law.W. W. Willoughby 

f Constitutional Law in the United States.Emlin McClain 

f The Federalist . 

National Administration of the United States of America... 

.J. A. Fairlie 

Treaties, Their Making and Enforcement.S. B. Crandall 

Rise and Growth of American Politics.H. J. Ford 

Political Parties and Party Problems.J. A. Woodburn 

A History of the Presidency.Edward Stanwood 

Party Organization and Machinery.Jesse Macy 

Politics and Administration. F* J- Goodnow 


75 










CHAPTER VIII. 


SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR CITIZENSHIP 
STUDY GROUPS 

PROGRAM I. 

L Forms of City Government. 

II. Streets: The Problem of a City’s Transportation. 

III. The Disposal of a City’s Waste. 

IV. The Police Force or Guarding the Life and Property of 

a City. 

V. Wisconsin Boards and Commissions. 

VI. Wisconsin Laws Bearing on Women and Children. 

VII. Wisconsin State Courts. 

VIII. An Interpretation of the United States Ccyistitution. 

IX. The Powers of Congress. 

X. Development of the United States Bank. 

XL The United States Cabinet. 

XII. The Function and History of Political Parties. 

XIII. The Federal Courts. 

XIV. International Law and Arbitration. 


PROGRAM II. 


I. City Government 

1. American Municipal Development. 

2. Social Structure of the City. 

3. Relation of City and State. 

4. Powers and Responsibilities of the Municipality. 

II. Departments of City Government 

1. The City Council. 

2. The City Executive. 

3. The Administrative Departments. 

76 


III. The Administrative Departments 

Special Topics on the subject of Health, Police, Fire 
Protection, Street Cleaning and Paving, and other 
similar matters. 

IV. Forms of City Government 

1. Mayor-Council. 

2. Commission. 

3. City Manager. 

Initiative, Referendum and Recall. 

Public Utilities. 

V. Town and County Government 

Special Topics on the Various County Institutions. 

VI. State Government 

1. Legislative. 

2. Executive. 

VII. State Government—Continued 

1. Administrative Department. 

2. Special Topics on the Various Wisconsin Com¬ 

missions. 

VIII. State Government—Continued 

1. State Judiciary. 

2. State Finances. 

3. Educational System. 

IX. Federal Government 

1. Congress. 

2. Executive. 

3. Special Topics on the Work of the Various 

Departments of the Cabinet. 

X. Federal Judiciary 

1. Relation of State and National Governments. 

2. Amending the Constitution. 

3. International Relations. 

The topics in the above might well be extended into fourteen 
or fifteen lessons. 


77 










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